Naruto: The older brother
by psychopath556
Summary: What if Naruto wasn't the only one born the night of the Kyūbi attack, what if he had an older brother who wants nothing more than to keep his Otōto and the ones he loves safe, rated M for mature scenes later OCxHarem, NaruxHarem, multi-pairings, Sasuke bashing, OC centred, OOC characters R&R please
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes**

 **Hello all my lovely viewers, and welcome to my latest Naruto fiction, this one has been in the workings for a long time due to the long term planning that myself and my Co-writer (Ryujomaru15) have put into it. We've put our heart and soul into this beauty and it's been a refreshing experience having another author help me plan and point out my mistakes to help me improve.**

 **Originally this fiction was my brain child but when Ryujomaru15 asked for the details of the fiction we got busy and so found this awesome fiction coming to life, so far we've built up this nice little reserve of chapters to post, but I've decided to test the waters and give you all a taste of what we've come up with, so please give us a review at the end and let us know what you think of it so far, the chapters will be longer than my True Uzumaki chapter given the amount of attention I'm putting into this and with the improvements Ryujomaru15 is adding to my work, the guy is a lifesaver, my chapters will be at a minimum of 10k words per chapter and in great detail.**

 **Now just to give you some details on what this fiction will contain, if you read the summary you will see there will be harems, let's face it harems are a constant thing with any of my fictions, but they will be small, and after weeks of planning both myself and Ryujomaru15 have settled on the final harem girls, and those are set in stone and will not be changing, both Naruto and my OC will have harems as well as another character who I will name later, there will also be multiple side pairings throughout the fiction with as well as other original characters here and there to fit the story line.**

 **There will be Sasuke bashing in this fiction but it will be at a level that is reasonable and justified, there will be the Fanon civilian and Clan council, but bashing from them will be minimized and used only to improve the story, there will be no senseless bashing of any kind.**

 **Now I'm sure there is one question on all most of your minds when you saw the Harem and M rating, you're wondering when the lemons will be happening, sorry to say this is not going to be a Smut fiction, while yes lemons and limes are inevitable, they will not be for a long time, relationships need to be built first, and the storyline is what matters, while yes I enjoy writing the smut as you all enjoy reading it, I'm not the only writer in this fiction so I can't smash two characters together like Barbie and Ken and make them go at it like rabbits, there will be dates, and there will be trust built before we get to the dirty fun.**

* * *

 **"Kage Bunshin"- Jutsus**

 _'What a drag'- Thought_

"To troublesome"- Speech

 ** _'Ningen'- Demon thought_**

 ** _"Ningen"-Demon speech_**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Konoha was in ruins, buildings destroyed or burning, corpses cluttered the rubble. People had never known what had hit them when the Kyūbi no Yōko appeared out of a cloud of smoke and began to devastate the village without mercy in a bloodlust filled rage.

Now yellow spiked glowing chains that entangled its large body as it gnashed and growled at its captors far from the village in a large clearing in the woods bound the mighty bijū.

Around the clearing a large dome had been erected its structure made of the same chains that held back the Kyūbi while their energy created walls between them to keep anyone outside back while the events inside took place.

The chains were coming from a single woman inside the dome; she had fair skin, violet eyes and long crimson red hair down to the base of her back with should-length strands that framed both sides of her face with a black clip that parts her hair to the left. She was wearing a white high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a green long, loose-fitting dress with a wristband on her left wrist and standard shinobi sandals.

Behind her was a man with slightly tanned skin, bright blue eyes, and spiky blond hair with bangs framing his face. His attire was a blue long sleeved track suite with two bands on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket: with three pouches on each side of the chest, a neck guard, extra padding over the shoulders (which is fastened on by steel buttons), and a zipper down the middle, a blue Hitai-ate on his head with a leaf symbol engraved on it over it. He also wore a short-sleeved long white haori that was decorated by red flame-like motifs on the edges with the kanji for "Yondaime Hokage" written vertically downwards closed in the front by a thin, orange rope over this attire.

But both were not going to stay in this world for long, as both stood in front of an alter holding back one of the Kyūbi's claws, however they had both been pierce through their midsections by the sharp claw that had been heading to the sleeping forms on the alter, they were two sleeping babies, one wrapped in orange with messy blond hair with three whisker marks on his cheeks, the other with messy crimson red hair which was finer than the firsts wrapped in a red blanket a shade darker than his hair.

Behind the pair holding back the claw was translucent gaunt spectre with a demonic visage. It is much larger than an average human, possessing long, shaggy white hair, from which two red horns protrude, with a mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth, and a very long, almost serpentine tongue, and purple-coloured skin. It is draped in a large white garments and carries a set of prayer beads in its left hand and holding a tantō in its right hand now looking down at the scene.

The man spoke; "Kushina, I'm almost out of time." he spoke to the woman with blood dripping from the sides of his mouth in obvious pain. "It's time for the eight trigram seal, I'll add our chakra so we can speak with Naruto later on, please say your goodbyes."

The woman, Kushina, looked down on the sleeping babies and smiled as best she could in her obvious state. "Naruto…. Kenta, don't be picky about your foods, eat lots both of you, so you can grow up big. Take bathes every day, and stay warm, and Kenta don't let Naruto stay up late at night you'll both need your sleep. Make friends, you don't need a lot of them, just a few that you can really trust. I'm not one to talk, but do your best in school and Ninjutsu, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, so don't feel down if you're not good at something, help each other, that's what brothers are for. Respect your teachers and seniors at the academy. Oh and don't forget the three shinobi vices: be especially careful when lending or borrowing money. Make sure to save the money you earn from missions. Don't drink any alcohol until you're twenty-one. Drinking is bad for your health, so do so moderately. And as for women, I'm a woman myself, so I don't know much about this, but there are only men and woman in this world, so its ok if you're interested in a woman, just try not to go after bad ones, try to find ones just like mom. Speaking of vices, watch out for Jiraiya-sensei, ya know. Naruto, you will face a lot of pain and suffering in your life, believe in yourself and rely on your brother in the end family is all you really have, Kenta look out for your little brother and protect him, believe in each other and believe in your dreams, but most of all believe that your dreams will come true." She said as tears started to come to her eyes, "There are so many, many, many, many, many, many more things I want to share with you both. I wish I could stay with you both longer; I love you both so much. I'm sorry, Minato, I spoke for too long." she finished in apology to the man behind her, as tears streamed down her cheeks, who just smiled lightly and shook his head.

"Don't worry. Naruto, Kenta, my advice to you both as your father… is the same as your chatty mother just said with one extra, Naruto listen to your big brother and Kenta look out for your little brother, I'm so sorry neither of us could be there to watch you both grow up, but this is all we can offer you." Minato said as he peered around Kushina to the sleeping forms on the alter before smiling contently as he closed his eyes and spoke, **"Hakke Fūin…"** as a bright light engulfed them.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Several hours later, in the tallest building in Konoha, the Hokage tower. A man in his late fifties sat holding the oldest of the babies in his arms while the younger blond lay in the crib in front of them.

The man was of short stature compared to most, his tanned-skin starting to develop wrinkles, has two lines running vertically under the outer corners of each eye, and a few liver spots under his left eye. His hair was dark brown with a spiked upward, and had a messy dark brown goatee. He was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, respected by all who knew him, and revered for his two titles, "The Professor" and "Shinobi no Kami."

Now Hiruzen sat looking down at the babe in his arms and the small child looking back up at him, his blue eyes innocent and carefree. Hiruzen could only give a small smile to the child as he held him with a small sigh.

"Barely one day old in this world and you and your brother have been through so much, the deaths of both your parents, your younger brother becoming the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi," Hiruzen whispered as he looked down to the child, as a small frown came to his face, "the civilians calling for both your heads out of sheer ignorance, Danzō asking to take your brother for his Ne program, both of which I will never allow to happen." Hiruzen said as the small babe wrapped his fingers around one of his own making him smile. "You're a fighter, just like your father and mother." Hiruzen said before taking a sad breath in the memory of his former successor and wife now past, "I'm sorry, no child or children should grow up missing a parent let alone both. I'm not sure what the future holds that awaits you both, but know this, I will do everything in my power to make sure you both live happy lives and grow up just like your parents would want, I couldn't face Minato or Kushina in the afterlife if I didn't." Hiruzen finished with a small smile as the babes eyes started to close as the Sandaime Hokage stood up.

Moving to the cot in front of them he placed the small babe down into it right next to his blond younger sibling who was already sleeping. With a smile Hiruzen fixed their blankets before watching the eldest drift off to sleep, "But whatever happens, I know you'll both be fine."

* * *

 **Time skip- 10 years**

The sun shone bright over Konoha as the shops began to open and the civilians started their days. It had been ten years sense that night of the Kyūbi attack, ten years since the village had known that horror, while the village had recovered and mourned its loses, there was still an air of hatred about the village, though it was buried deep down but often flared up. Its focus was on one or both of the only two occupants of the twin joined apartments in a rundown apartment complex in the red light district of the poorer part of Konoha.

The building itself was recently restored on order of the Hokage to house its two newest occupants, who shared the twin joined apartments. The building itself was a U shape with the joined apartments on the top second floor on the left side of the building.

The apartments are identical clones of each other except for the different paint colours, one had a warm white paint and the other a warm grey, both with wooden flooring in an open space planed design, with kitchen, bedroom and living room all in one space and the bathrooms were on opposing sides.

The kitchen spaces were plain with metal and hardwood worktops with a plastic coating finish, both had sinks and cookers though only the second apartment looked to be in use.

In the bedroom of the first a head of spiky red hair can be seen under the plain white covers, the bed was a solid wood frame that looked recently new, beside the bed a digital alarm clock went off, it was a rectangular metal clock with a black screen with bright red numbers and a push switch on top.

As the clock turned to eight it started beeping over and over again making the occupant of the bed groan as he turned. The red head opened his eyes showing the cerulean blue orbs and squints at the light as he reaches out from below the cover and whacks the alarm clock silencing it before running his hand over his face to wipe the sleep away.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position the cover falls from the red heads torso showing he's shirtless and was quite lean, not extremely muscular but he didn't have much baby fat, and there was some muscle definition showing he was quite active, but there were some light scaring from what looked like knife wounds on his arms and a few on his chest but all looked to have healed long ago.

With a yawn the red head got out of the bed and stretched his arms up as he closed his eyes, all he was wearing was a pair of black baggy pyjama bottoms and no socks. He was roughly four feet nine inches, which is tall for his age.

Opening his eyes again now slightly more awake, he started over to the door joining the apartments and gave it a rough hard knock.

"Naruto, time to get up, I'll be in to make breakfast in ten minutes." the red head called through the door getting a mumbled response.

Hearing the response the red head turned and headed to the bathroom. Walking in the bathroom was a simple square room enough space for a small shower, sink and a toilet. The tiles on the ground and wall were plain white and stopped half way up the wall where a white paint started. Turning on the sink the boy filled it half way before dunking his head in the freezing cold water before pulling his head out his eyes wide and hair dripping wet as he panted from the sudden burst of cold as he reached for the towel, now wide awake.

Finishing drying his face the boy looked himself over in the mirror, his face was somewhat narrow with a curved chin with softened features, his red hair was messy and in spikes with long bangs on the sides of his face making his cerulean blue eyes stand out even more.

Walking back into the bedroom to get dressed the boy couldn't help but be thankful for the new apartments he and his younger brother were living in now, after they were both kicked out of the orphanage a week ago. They had started to live on the streets, but were found on the first night by a mask wearing shinobi in the shape of a dogs head with spiked up silver hair, he had brought them to the Hokage and they had spent the night in his office and the next day he had gotten them both these apartments after the orphanage refused to take them back, their reason being the pranks the younger of the two played and the fights the older one got into defending the younger one.

As he finished getting dressed by pulling on a white T-shirt with a red band going from his right shoulder to his left hip, he lifted a black strip of cloth and tied it around his head keeping his spiky hair up and out of his face.

Giving a final yawn and stretch the boy walked over to the door and knocked again, "Ready or not Naruto, I'm coming in." he said as he turned the handle and opened the door.

As he walked in the he smirked seeing the yawning and stretching form of his younger brother coming to greet him.

He had bright blond hair and a rather chubby face with three whisker birth marks on ether cheek, as he finished yawning he opened his eyes showing the same cerulean blue eyes that his brother shared, he was wearing a pair of light blue pyjama bottoms and white shirt with a black night cap on his head.

Seeing his brother the blond smiled, "Morning Kenta-Nii."

Kenta smiled giving a small chuckled, "Morning Otōto, you go and wake yourself up and I'll get breakfast on the go." he said shaking his head

With a groggy nod Naruto turned and walked to the bathroom on the other side of the apartment while Kenta went into the kitchen area and started going through the cupboards. Opening one after another he started to frown, _'Out of food again, and there's no telling what they'll charge us this time if I go now.'_ Kenta thought as he opened the last cupboard and sighed as he took out the content, two instant ramen tubs and sighed, _'Breakfast of champions'_ he thought rhetorically as he put the water in and put them in the microwave before sitting down and sighing.

Naruto came out of the bathroom and saw his brother sighing and walked over, "What's the matter Nii-chan?" he asked hating to see his big brother worried.

Kenta shook his head with a sigh, "We're out of food again, I'm going to have to go see Jiji and see if he can have our groceries sorted by other means, I swear that girl is over charging us for our food." Kenta said as Naruto sat down.

"I'm sure Jiji can help he always does." Naruto said as he tried to think of a way to brighten the mood before smiling, "Hey, do you want to help me prank some guys today, I've got loads of ideas!" Naruto said exaggerating by throwing his arms out wide making Kenta smirk before he shook his head.

"Sorry Otōto, maybe later when I get back from seeing Jiji about our food situation and some other things." Kenta said with a small smile this got Naruto's attention.

"What "other things"?" Naruto asked curious as to what his older brother was going to be seeing their grandfather figure about.

Kenta smirked, "I'm going to see if Jiji can help me start my shinobi training early, I'm sure he has some books he can lend me so I can start, maybe he'll even take me on as his student if I ask him, he trained the three Sannin and they were the strongest shinobi in the village. To be taught by him or them would be amazing." Kenta said his mood brighten up.

Naruto blinked seeing his brother's enthusiasm, "But we've got two years before we start the academy Nii-chan, what's the rush?"

Kenta smirked as he reached over and rustled his brother hair "You can never be to prepare when it comes to things like this Otōto, remember that." he said with a smirk as his brother pushed his hand off his head and pouted.

"You always act so much older than me, even though there is only five minutes between us." Naruto pouted at his brother treating him like a little kid.

Kenta smirked, "Bigger brothers always grow up quicker, they have to in order to look out for their Otōtos'." he said as the microwave finally dinged and Kenta got up to get the food.

Taking the bowls out he put them on the table and handed Naruto a pair of chopsticks, they pulled back the lids and Naruto inhaled the smell like it was a sweet perfume.

"Aaaah, food of Kami-sama for breakfast. Is there any better way to start the day?" Naruto smiled as he took in the scene

Kenta chuckled as he shook his head at his brothers words, "Well I'm not sure about Ramen for breakfast but it will do for today." he said as they put their hands together and bowed, ""Itadakimasu"", before starting to eat.

* * *

 **Scene break**

In the tallest building in Konohagakure, the Hokage tower, was the Hokage's office, the room was comfortable meant for the Hokage to be able to go about his duties as such, the far back of the room was rounded with multiple windows allowing light to fill the room, in the centre of those windows was the lager desk of the Hokage with stacks of paper work on one side. On the opposite end of the room were two sofas with bookshelves filled with many books that have been read behind them.

Behind the desk sat a tired and weary Hiruzen Sarutobi, his face showing his age more and more with every passing year. The last ten years had taken its toll on the elderly Hokage, he had hoped to no longer be there as it was over ten years ago he had named his successor, but sadly he had no choice after the Kyūbi attack and the death of that successor but to retake his position, it was the only way he could protect his successors legacy, had he not, he was sure they'd have been dead by now or worse for young Naruto, turned into a mindless puppet for wars, as had been the suggestion of his war advisor when Naruto's status had been told to the council.

Now his days had been filled with more paper work than he ever had before, the majority of the paper work was all from the council, the civilian side was always trying to scrape more power from him or slip laws by him that were just too ridiculous to even comprehend. Sometimes Hiruzen cursed his second sensei for ever creating the council, he agreed the civilians should have a say as it was their village as well, but to quote the Nara clan, they made things more "Troublesome" than it needed to be, his paperwork pile wouldn't even be a tenth of what it was now if it wasn't for the civilian council, he couldn't even remember the last chance he had to train, and he knew it was starting to show. He was grateful for any distraction he could get from the bane of his existence, and this morning that distraction came in the form of a small hand knocking on his office door.

"Come in." Hiruzen said as he stamped another denied on another useless law attempt, he looked up when the door opened and the young Kenta came in smiling seeing his grandfather figure, "Ah Kenta-kun, come in what brings you here so early in the morning?"

Kenta smiles closing the door, "I thought now would be a good time to come and see you and assumed you'd be less busy in the early morning," he said before eying the paperwork, "guess I was wrong, I can come back later if you'd like."

Hiruzen smiled at Kenta's cleaver thinking but shook his head, "No that's fine my boy I could use the distraction from this paperwork." Hiruzen said as he lifted his pipe, "How are you and Naruto fairing in your new apartments? I've been meaning to come by but this paper work has kept me so busy I can barely get away from my desk these days."

Kenta grinned, "The apartments are great Jiji, thanks again for them, it's so much better to have our own space rather than back at the orphanage when it was just the two of us to that small room and single bed."

Hiruzen chuckled at Kenta's happiness, "That's good to hear my boy, now what have you come by so early for? I assume it must be important, you're normally with Naruto every day like you two were joined at the hip."

Kenta smirked rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Nothing gets by you Jiji," he said with a nervous chuckle, "I was wondering if I could ask you to arrange for mine and Naruto's groceries to be collected by someone else from now on?"

The sudden request made Hiruzen quirk and eyebrow as he took his pipe from his mouth, "And why would you ask for that Kenta-kun? If you're nervous about going alone, I'm sure I could have someone sent with you until you're surer of how to do it yourself?" Hiruzen suggested thinking he might just have been nervous but blinked again when Kenta shook his head.

"That's not it Jiji," Kenta said with a small frown, "it's just that I've noticed something the last time I went to the shop, the girl at the till charged me way more than what the bill should have been for the food, I made sure to check the prices before I took them to the till, and the looks the girl was giving me and Naruto, they were just cold and full of hate."

Hiruzen frowned hearing that and curse in his head, _'I was afraid of this, there hasn't been an incident like the first since I put that ANBU unit on them, but it appears that they've found another way to abuse these two, well that's stopping now.'_ Hiruzen thought as he sighed, "I see, well I don't see why we can't arrange that for you." Hiruzen said as he gave Kenta a small smile and took out note pad from his desk drawer, "Come and give me a list of all the things that you need and I'll have someone pick them up for you and bring them here while we talk.", _'The longer we talk the less time I have to work on this accursed paperwork, he-he.'_

Kenta bowed in thanks as he came over and started listing all the things they needed from the shop. After five minutes Hiruzen nodded and pulsed his chakra into a seal on his desk and the door to his office opened as his secretary came in. Hiruzen handed her the list, "Please have someone sent to purchase those items from one of the local shops and have them brought here, and arrange for it to be done once a week." The secretary took the list and nodded, as she started to leave she shot a disgusted glare at Kenta, who returned it in kind, Hiruzen caught the secretaries glare and scowled at her "And when your done with that, you can clear out your desk your services are no longer required." he said scowl still on his face shocking the secretary who could only nod in acceptance and leave. Hiruzen rubbed his brow, _'What is this village coming to?'_ he asked himself mentally.

As the door closed Kenta couldn't help but smirk and turn to his grandfather figure smiling, "Thanks again Jiji, this will really help."

Hiruzen smiled, "Your most welcome Kenta, always come to me if there's anything you need, I'll be more than happy to help you."

Kenta nodded, "Actually Jiji, there is one more thing you could help me with, if it's not too much trouble?"

Hiruzen chuckled, "Its fine my boy, what is it that I can do for you?"

Kenta grinned hoping he wouldn't be turned down, "I was hoping you'd be able to lend me a copy of some scrolls on beginners Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and chakra control."

The sudden request shocked Hiruzen for a moment as he blinked hearing it, "My boy why would you want such things, you don't start the academy for another two years?"

Kenta nodded, "I know Jiji, it's just I want to get a head start on the basics so I don't fall behind, I'm thinking that all the students from clans will have training from their parents before going so I'll already be at a disadvantage, I want to lessen that as much as possible."

Hiruzen looked at Kenta shocked at his logical thinking and couldn't help but smile, _'It's almost as if its Minato standing in front of me defending his reasoning, they're so much alike its almost scary.'_ Hiruzen thought before nodding, "Very well Kenta-kun, I'd be more than happy to help you," he said before getting up.

Hiruzen walked over to the book shelves and started scanning their contents before pulling out two scrolls, "Here we go," he said as he turned and handed them to Kenta, "That first one is on the three types of chakra control exorcises for beginners I'd recommend starting with the leaf balancing exorcise before moving on to tree claiming and water walking." Hiruzen recommended, "The second is on the three basic Ninjutsu all students learn at the academy **Bunshin** , **Kawarimi,** and **Henge** , these three are the fundamental basics that every shinobi much know that's why the academy teaches them." Hiruzen continued explaining, "Now as for Taijutsu, that would be better studied under a sensei, that way you can discover a style which is suited to your own personality, and it just so happens that we have a Taijutsu expert here in the village, he is a master of the **Gōken** (strong fist) Taijutsu style and is fluent in over thirty other forms of hand to hand combat, I believe he would be best to teach you when the time comes."

Kenta couldn't help but shiver, "Um Jiji, he wouldn't be the guy I've seen running around the village screaming about the "Flames of youth" is he?"

Hiruzen sweat dropped, "That would be him, his name is Might Guy, and while he may be a little eccentric", _'make that completely insane'_ , "but he is also one of the most hard working Jōnin this village has, and would be the best option in learning any Taijutsu style."

Kenta nodded understanding his grandfather figures logic, but couldn't help but think that his future Taijutsu lessons might prove to be rather strange. Then another thought crossed Kenta's mind, "Um Jiji, where do I go to get other Jutsu? After I've learned these three that is."

Hiruzen smiled, "Common Jutsu that many our shinobi use can be found at the shinobi library, clans have their own personal libraries in their compounds so the shinobi library is for none clan shinobi to go to or for clan shinobi to research Jutsu that might better their clan styles. Sadly I'm afraid you won't be able to enter as you need to be a registered shinobi of Konoha to do so."

Kenta frowned hearing that he had really hoped to go there after he had learned these three Jutsu he had been given.

Seeing Kenta frown Hiruzen smirked slightly as if reading his mind, "Don't worry my boy, when the time comes that you need more Jutsu to learn, I'll draft you up a permit to allow you to enter the library and I'll even assign you a training ground to practice in, as long as you can show me you've learned all three of those Jutsu I've given you that is, that way I'll know you can handle the Jutsu in the library."

Kenta smiled again hearing that realizing what his grandfather figure was doing, he was giving him incentive to learn the academy basic Jutsu before the others so he wouldn't take on something that was above his level. _'Thanks Jiji, this will be perfect I have to get stronger and be ready, I can't be defenceless not when I have to protect Naruto.'_ Kenta thought as he smiled, "Thanks Jiji, I'll get these Jutsu down no problem, but I was wondering if you could spare someone to show me the ropes in how to start, even if they're just out of the academy, I just want a hand to make sure I'm not making a fool out of myself by doing it wrong."

Hiruzen smiled, "That's a very cleaver thing to ask Kenta" he said in praise before thinking for a moment, _'Perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone with this, at least for now, she's been refusing to take anyone for the past two years not wanting a Genin team, perhaps a single student would be better'_ , Hiruzen smirked, "and I believe I know just the person to help you." he said before snapping his finger and an ANBU guard appeared to his left, "Please fetch Anko Mitarashi for me." he ordered before the ANBU bowed and disappeared via **Shunshin**.

Kenta blinked at the speed of how things were going, _'Wow that was easy, I knew I would get someone, but I never thought it'd be so quickly, I hope whoever this Anko is can help me.'_ Kenta thought to himself only to be pulled from his shock by a knock at the offices door.

"Come in." called Hiruzen to whoever it was.

The door opened and two people came in, one was an ANBU wearing a boar mask holding multiple bags of groceries. The second was a young woman in a white high collar shirt and black mesh armour over the top of it, wearing a brown skirt with a purple side pouch and black shinobi sandals, with white wrappings around her left thigh under a black kunai pouch.

The ANBU set the groceries down beside Kenta before bowing to Hiruzen and disappearing into a swirl of leaves.

The girl gave Kenta a curious glance before she stood in front of the Hokage's desk and bowed, "You sent for me Hokage-Sama." she said taking her formal tone, this was the 'Professor' and 'Shinobi no Kami', you showed him respect.

Hiruzen nodded and gave them both a smile that for some reason sent a shiver down both their spines as both gulped unsure of why they felt a little worried about what was going to happen.

Hiruzen chuckled slightly, _'Glad to know I still got it.'_ he though before smiling again, "Anko I have a long term assignment for you with continuous pay for as long as it continues given that its none optional at this stage." the professor informed her making her frown somewhat.

Kenta raised an eyebrow at the statement, _'So he's making teaching me a mission, and a non-optional one at that? Why? Hasn't she taught anyone before, she doesn't even look seventeen.'_ Kenta thought, as he looked to the girl curious as to whom she was exactly.

Hiruzen then cleared his throat, "Kenta this is Anko Mitarashi, Anko this is Kenta Uzumaki, your new student." Hiruzen said with a smile, that was when Anko's eyes widened in realization of why this mission was non-optional for her.

"Hokage-Sama are you sure this is wise, saddling me with this Gaki?" Anko asked trying to be as polite as possible about it, "He doesn't even look old enough to be out of dippers yet. What exactly do you want me to teach him? How to use crayons?" Anko asked, as she couldn't help glancing at Kenta with a smirk.

That was when Kenta's eye twitched and a smile came to his face that was similar to the one Anko glanced at him with, "Firstly it's very nice to meet you as well Mitarashi-san, but I feel like I must point out, should you call me that again you will find one of those kunai in your holder shoved up somewhere on your person that you would find most unpleasant, or maybe you wouldn't, given how you look."

The sudden outburst made both Hiruzen and Anko blink looking at Kenta, Hiruzen was shocked, Kenta had always been polite and well-mannered always keeping himself calm, there was a time he actually though there was some Hyūga in him to be so stiff at times, to see him actually react like that was a revelation and one that brought a cheerful smile to the old man's mental face, _'And there's the Kushina in him, she was never one for taking lip from anyone, oh these two will make quite the pair if they get into it.'_ Hiruzen smirked

Anko blinked looking at Kenta before a smirk of approval came to her and she laughed, "Ha-ha, that's some mouth you got on you there Gaki~, call me Anko, and don't bother with the sensei honorific I'm waiting to see what your like first before I even think about making it official and that." she added as she held out her hand to him.

Kenta smirked "Sure thing Anko-san." he said as he took her hand and shook it.

Hiruzen smiled seeing them getting on, "Well seeing that you're acquainted now I might as well give you the full assignment Anko." he said before he cleared his throat and took out a missions scroll, "Anko you are to be Kenta's instructor for the next two years in the shinobi arts, you'll still be doing missions outside of the village every once in a while when needed but when able you are to instruct Kenta in his training for the academy. What he wants to learn is up to him it seems he already has some ideas in mind and will need directions, I recommend you add physical conditioning to the agenda before you start anything more physical." Hiruzen continued as he wrote everything he said down, "I will be arranging for Gai to meet with you both when he gets back from his mission so that he might help Kenta chose a Taijutsu style that he can begin learning. Anko, as a newly appointed Chūnin passing on knowledge is also a vital role, I expect a monthly report on Kenta's progress. Pay for the assignment will be made weekly, it is a B-rank assignment so pay will be distributed as fit as it is continuous. Training expenses will be covered so be sure to keep recites, and if he still requires extra instruction after the two years the assignment will be extended on request." Hiruzen finished as he signed the scroll making the assignment official as he handed it to her.

Anko took the scroll with a nod of acceptance and understanding as she stowed it in her side pouch for review later as Kenta grins.

Hiruzen grins also, "Alright now that's sorted, Kenta you'll need some staring gear, kunai and shuriken for now," Hiruzen said as he started filling out another scroll, "the tower has a large armoury so instead of buying them I'll just assign you a set of each to get you started, you'll have to buy your own once you start the academy, it also has a wide assortment of weapons down there, I'd recommend you pick one to try and learn, most shinobi have something that makes them unique in battle perhaps you'll find one down there that you'll like." he said as he handed the second scroll to Anko, "Give that to the girl at the armoury desk and she'll see you're sorted, now go on the sooner you start the sooner you'll grow stronger."

Kenta grins as he picks up the bags "Thanks Jiji." he said as he and Anko began to leave bags split between them

Hiruzen smirks, "Anytime Kenta, anytime." he says as he watches the pair leave and the door closed before he sighed, _'The council will kick up a storm about this if they find out, but to hell with them, I'm not the Hokage for nothing,'_ he thinks before looking back to the pile of paperwork and glares at it, _'Alright you son of a bitch round two, here we go.'_ he thinks before starting in again.

As Kenta and Anko start to walk away they pass an ANBU in a weasel mask with black hair coming through the hallway heading to the Hokage's office. As he and Kenta pass each other, Kenta stops and he feels a chill go down his spine as he turns to look at the back of the ANBU as he enters the Hokage's office and he feels himself shiver again.

Anko turns to see Kenta has stopped, "Hey Gaki what's the matter?" she asked wondering why he'd stopped.

Turning back to Anko Kenta shook his head, "Nothing Anko-san, its just…I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen." he said as they started walking again, Kenta unable to shake the feeling that this day was the start of many things that would shape the future.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Anko and Kenta walked down to the basement of the Hokage tower where the armoury was located, entering the room Kenta's eyes widened considerably seeing the room. Racks upon racks of weapons of all shapes and sizes from exotic swords to spear heads, the walls had heavier weapons mounted on them maces, axes, huge swords there were weapons of all kinds down here the sheer number of them astounded him.

"Wow, this is way more than I expected. Where do all these come from?" Kenta asked in awe

Anko smirked, "From other shinobi of course, the village has its fair number of blacksmiths as well. Any time a shinobi comes head to head against an enemy shinobi in battle the victor usually takes whatever they can from the other in order to better the village and learn other village's secrets. There's a whole division on solely experimenting and testing foreign weaponry that are brought in to discover their secrets. Once all the secrets have been learned the weapons are sent here along with all the notes on how they can be used, it's up to the shinobi who decide to take them on to learn how to use them. Usually it's only Chūnin of above who are given weapons out of here, Hokage-sama must think you're something special to allow you to have one when you're just starting your training."

Kenta nods as he looks up at all the weapons and his mind racing with all the ideas of what he could chose for his weapon. Anko smirked seeing the look in his eyes like a normal kid in a candy or toy store, well to Kenta this probably was a toy store, and incredibly dangerous toy store, she giggled sadistically to herself wondering what weapon the kid would choose to make his own and decided to let him run loose.

"Alright Gaki I'll head to the desk and get your standard equipment, you go have a look around and see what you can spot that you like. I'll catch up with you in a few." Anko smirked when she saw his grin grow before he took off down the aisle like a Raiton Jutsu making Anko chuckle again, _'Ah to be that young and excitable, that kids going to be one hell of a shinobi when he's older if he's this excited now.'_

* * *

 **With Kenta**

Kenta walked down the aisles of weapons his eyes wide looking up at them all, sword of all different sizes racked on the wall or mounted separately higher up. There was a mass of maces and long handled weapons against one of the wall making Kenta stop and look at them.

He remembered the old man had said he practiced using a Bo staff as his weapon of choice one time, and had even signed the monkey contract to that extent, the Sarutobi clan even had its own Bo fighting style which Kenta had said sounded awesome, but the more he thought about what his grandfather figure had said _"Most shinobi have something that makes them unique in battle perhaps you'll find one down there that you'll like",_ had made him reluctant to choose a Bo, if he was going to be unique he had to choose something else, while it would have been nice to have learned how to used it as his student it wouldn't make him unique.

Turning away from the Bo staffs Kenta headed down another aisle that caught his eye, the entire side of the wall had different pull out boxes in it, each looked to be for a separate weapon and on the front was notice of the weapons name and origins. As Kenta kept walking down he stopped when he saw something that caught his eye. A label that read "Unknown origins" making Kenta blink as he pulled it out and took off the lid.

Inside the box was a very strange looking weapon of sorts, it was clearly a sword by looking at the handle, but its body was broken up into multiple connecting parts. The handle was broke into ten segments each part with a rough leather outer wrapping, but the blade looked to be made up of over a hundred parts, each of which were connected by a strange extending ball joint. The end of the handle had a large metal ring with two smaller ones hanging off it and the tip of the blade came to a curved point like an arrowhead.

Lifting the handle out of the box to examine it Kenta gripped the blade slightly and his eyes widened when all the connection on the blade and handle reacted and connected together in an instant as it took on the form of a solid sword. It was just over a meter and half in length, with no guard and a double edge blade with a clear bevel up the middle of the blade where the segmented joints were clearly visible.

Turning the blade so the light glimmered off the blades edges Kenta was in awe, it was heavy but not overly so and it felt right in his hands.

As he examined it footsteps approached him from behind before Anko's voice broke the silence, "See anything you like Gaki?" she asked coming up behind him seeing him admiring the sword.

Kenta nodded, "This." he said as he tilted the blade slightly as she looked it over.

Anko quirked an eyebrow looking at the sword before she reached into the box and took out the booklet on the blades details and started thumbing through it, "Interesting, says here its origins are unknown, that it was found on mission with no direct village links. The blades and connecting links are all chakra metal so you'll be able to run your chakra through it later, talk about an expensive piece. Whoever lost this must be kicking themselves still, chakra metal ain't cheap."

Kenta looked the blade up and down again with a newer admiration and grinned, "I'll take it." he said with determination making Anko smirk.

"You bet your ass you will, but that thing's going to take more than two years to learn how to use properly, there's no style as far as I know on this type of sword so you'll have to make your own. You up for that?" Anko asked with a smirk wanting to see Kenta's reaction.

Kenta grinned, "Like you said, "you can bet your ass" I am, I'll make it all my own."

Anko smirked, "I think I'm starting to like you Gaki," she said before turning, "Now come on, we need to get this assigned to you before we drop off your shopping and then get you some new clothes, you can't train in civilian clothing, it will be shredded in the first hour." Anko smirked as Kenta shivered unsure what they would be doing that would "shred" his clothing.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Back in the double apparent that Kenta and Naruto shared, Kenta and Anko set the bags down on the table top as Anko started looking around the place.

"Nice digs you got here Gaki. You live here with anyone else?" Anko asked looking around

Kenta nodded as he started putting stuff away, "Yep, me and my Otōto, we're twins but you wouldn't know it by looking at us, I have red hair and he has blond."

After a few minutes Kenta had finished putting the shopping away and looked to the other equipment Anko had picked him up, three kunai and half a dozen shuriken, each were razor sharp. He picked up one of the kunai and held it in his hand weighing it and frowned doing so, it was heavy in his hand.

Anko noticed him weighing the kunai and smirked, "It will be heavy for someone not used to holding one, you'll get used to it in no time" she said standing up from the table chair.

Kenta nodded as he set the kunai down, "I never did like how these were designed, no guards and perfect for quick slashes, but not much else. I guess I'll have my sword for those kinds of fights."

Anko shrugged, "Yea, and you can always go to a blacksmith and request a custom design if you wanted, though they'd cost you an arm and a leg and they'd have to be aerodynamic for throwing otherwise they'd be useless." she explained as Kenta put the weapons into one of the bags, "Right come on Gaki time to go and get you kitted out like a proper shinobi."

Kenta's eye twitched, "I swear if you call me that one more time I'll make good on my threat from before and shove a kunai up your ass."

Anko stopped, turned to him and smirked, "Hm, we'll see, where'd a kid like you even learn that kind of language in the first place?"

Kenta rolled his eyes, "You get enough foul comments thrown your way you pick up how to throw them back." Kenta explained causing Anko to blink not sure what to make of that statement.

 _'Were his folks abusive or something, is that why he and his brother live here?'_ Anko thought to herself as she tried to piece together what she knew about her new charge as they start to walk out and onto the streets.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was several minutes until they had arrived at one of the several shinobi clothing stores throughout the village, as they walked in Kenta frowned seeing the cold glare the girl behind the till was giving them as they entered and started to look around.

Picking out some clothes Kenta took them into the dressing area and started to try them on while Anko waited outside tapping her foot waiting impatiently, "You done yet Gaki?" she called out after Kenta had been in for a few minutes.

The curtain pulled back and Kenta stepped out wearing a pair of baggy combat trousers with multiple pockets and a black mesh shirt over a white t-shirt and two black elbow pads

"Now that's more like it you're looking like a proper shinobi now." Anko said grinning seeing his new attire.

Kenta's eyebrow twitched again, "I look like a mini male version of you!" Kenta yelled looking at the outfit she'd picked out for him.

"And why is that a bad thing?" Anko laughed as Kenta stormed back into the changing room.

"I'm keeping the pants but the rest is gone." Kenta called out as the mesh shirt and t-shirt came over the railing onto a grinning Ankos head.

After three more minutes Kenta immerged from the changing room again this time wearing a dark red shirt almost brown with a black shinobi flat jacket over it unzipped still wearing the black elbow pads from before with a black mask wrapped around his neck with a red strip going down the left side of it, he had swapped out the open toed shinobi sandals for boots and had donned a pair of shin and knee guards over the baggy pants that were the same shade red as his shirt with a single black stripe down their middle, and he completed his outfit with a pair of fingerless black gloves with metal plated backs and knuckles.

Fixing his gloves as he came out Kenta grinned, "I think this is more my style."

Anko smirked looking him up and down nodding in approval, "Not bad, the shinobi look suites you Gaki, now come on lets go pay and get some extras of that outfit ordered before we get started on your training." Anko said gesturing to the till.

As they both approached the girl glared at both Kenta and Anko coldly as they went to pay, Kenta glared back but was confused as to why Anko was getting the glare as well, _'Why her too? Is it because she's with me or something?'_ Kenta thought to himself as Anko paid.

Walking out of the shop Anko started to look at the receipt given and slowly her frown turned into a scowl and then total rage, "What the hell!" Anko yelled as she checked the receipt again, "That fucking bitch, I knew there was something off about those numbers, she fucking charged me three times the price for all that! Oh that tears it I'm going to fucking killer her!" Anko yelled as she went to go back to the shop and rip the fake tits off that girl only to stop when Kenta spoke.

"Don't bother." Kenta said as he started to put his kunai and shuriken into his pants pockets.

"Like hell she ripped me off, I'm not about to let that slide." Anko said in anger.

Kenta shook his head, "You'll be getting refunded for the mission won't you so what does it matter, once you show the receipt to Jiji that girl will have all the explaining to do then, you won't have to lift a finger, besides its happened to me before."

Anko looked to Kenta confused as to what he meant thinking that she'd been the reason they'd been over charged due to her history with a certain snake, but decided not to push, "Fine." Anko sighted as they started to continue on their way, "I suppose your right. You're too smart for a Gaki your age sometimes you know that?"

Kenta shrugged as he took out his sword from the bag, "That's just the way I am." he said before he swung the flat of the blade at his waist as it wrapped around him three times before the tip of the sword and the ring on the handle connected as the magnetic strips he attached to his pants held the blade still creating a belt.

Anko smirked seeing it, "That thing is going to come in pretty handy, you'd better take good care of it and make sure to read up on all the notes the research division made on it if you want to master how to use it."

Kenta nodded, "I've already started" he said as he gestured to the pocket on his left shin where the book was sticking out, "I covered the first five pages before we got to the shop and I've already got some idea of a style I want to try."

Anko smirked, "You've still got a long ways to go before you can even start on creating a style. First things first we've got to whip you into shape." she said with a sadistic smirk making Kenta shiver again.

* * *

 **Scene break**

The two stood at the edge of a river in a clearing just north of the Hokage monument past the trees above, the area was relatively flat with a slope just before the tree line giving them everything they'd need for Kenta's training as Anko had put it. Trees for the chakra control leaf balancing and tree climbing, the river for water walking, space to have light combat spars and practice Jutsu, plenty of tall trees to use as a on the go battle area later, plus it was secluded and no one would disturb them.

Once they had arrived Anko had set up a privacy barrier around the place for secrecy as it had mentioned to do on the mission scroll, Hiruzen didn't want anyone to find out about Kenta being trained for as long as he could help it, Anko could guess one reason was that the council would start yelling about her history and how she shouldn't be a shinobi much less teach a child or as they would call it corrupt an innocent mind, when in actuality that was only one of the few reasons they'd complain.

"Alright Gaki, so what's the first thing on your to-do list for training well work on it before we get started on your physical conditioning." Anko explained.

Kenta nodded, "The three academy Jutsu, Jiji said I have to learn them before I can get into the library to get more to learn."

Anko slouched, "Great, figured he'd saddle you with something boring like those three. They're the easiest to learn that's why they teach them at the academy. So I take it you've never used chakra before them ether?" Kenta shook his head getting Anko to sigh again, "Ok then that's where well start, but before that this is one and only chance I'm giving you to drop out now, if not I'm going to train you into the ground each day. We'll be training ten hours a day, I'll be picking you up at ten every morning so I expect you ready, we work till one in the evening where we break for lunch, then well be blitzing till eight at night, there's no arguing as It was part of the assignment scroll Hokage-sama gave me, and you'll need those ten hours a day practice if you want to be any good in just two years training."

Kenta nodded his head in determination, "I'm not backing down, I wanted this training for a reason, and I won't quit no matter what."

Anko smirked at the fire behind his eyes, _'This kid talks a big game but let's see if he can back it up, I bet he caves within the week'_ , Anko thought before nodding, "Alright let's get started then." she said still smirking.

Kenta nodded before pausing for a second, "um before we start Anko-san I was wondering just how old are you?"

Anko raised an eyebrow at the question before smirking, "I'm eighteen Gaki, I graduated my Chūnin exams first try, and I'll be expecting the same thing from you in four and a half years' time when your exams come around. Now let's begin your tortu… I mean let's begin your training." she said with a rather disturbing smile making Kenta gulp.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was the days end as Kenta dragged himself back to his and Naruto's apartments, every joint in his body hurt after the day's training. Once he'd figured out how to access his chakra Anko had started him on the leaf balancing exorcise for a few hours before he'd started tree walking, Anko had explained the better your chakra control the easier it was to learn Jutsu, he'd made it three feet up the tree but had fallen so many times he was sure the bruises on his ass had bruises. Then after lunch Anko had begun the real torture/training his physical conditioning, this was to help improve his stamina so he could last in long fights or handle the long travel distances for missions, now most would have just had Kenta run laps of the training ground, well Anko isn't most people, while Kenta was running he had her chasing him with Senbon needles laughing her ass off as she launched them at him for training and he had do duck, dodge, weave, swerve and jump to get away from them and that had went on for four hours with no breaks, luckily the Senbon were blunted so they only left small little bruises but it had still pissed Kenta off something bad by the end, but he was to sore and exhausted to try and take revenge. He was tempted to arrange to set her up to be the victim of one of his and Narutos pranks but decided against it realizing if she could do this to him with blunt Senbon what would she do to both him and Naruto with sharpened ones.

Opening the door to his apartment he left like his wrist was about to snap from the acrobatics he had to do to get away from the Senbon in training and hissed in pain, "Me and my big mouth." Kenta hissed as he opened the door only to get knocked on his ass as he entered by a blond blur.

Groaning in pain as he lay on the floor Kenta looked to see what had knocked him over only to see Naruto on his chest.

"Otōto, what the hell? Why'd you…" Kenta started before stopping hearing sniffling coming from Naruto as his brother looked to him showing the tears in his eyes.

"Nii-chan I was so worried, I haven't seen you since you left this morning, when I got back the cupboards were full but I couldn't find you anywhere I thought… I thought." Naruto cried in relief

That's when it hit Kenta and he cursed himself mentally, it had be a few years but the scars of that night were still there for them both, they'd been chased through the village by a mob when the head of the orphanage had locked them out on their birthday, they'd been trapped in an ally way and Kenta had used his body to shield Naruto as the villagers attacked them, he'd been hospitalized for a week after.

Kenta hugged Naruto back, "I'm sorry for making you worry Otōto, I'm sorry for being so stupid, I was just so excited to start my training I forgot to let you know, Jiji assigned me an instructor after he gave me some scrolls. I'll be training with her most days from now on, but I'll still be here in the mornings and evenings after eight, and I'll have weekends off so we can spend time together all those times, you'll just have to prank the villagers while I'm away those ten hours a day."

Naruto frowned hearing that, he didn't like being away from his Nii-chan but he didn't want to get in the way of his dreams either, he knew It was his dream to be a strong shinobi to protect them both, but he wouldn't be left behind, smiling at his brother he laughed slightly, "He-he-he, I thought it was something like that, I know you want to be a shinobi, so once we start the academy I'm going to get strong too, and I'll get just as strong if not stronger than you Nii-chan and then I'm going to beat you."

Kenta smirked at his brother brighten up and laughed at the statement, "In your dreams maybe Otōto. The only way you'd beat me is if you took Jiji's hat and became Hokage yourself."

Naruto grinned back at his brother, "Then that's what I'll do, I'll become Hokage and beat you Nii-chan, believe it!"

Kenta blinked at the sudden statement and smiled, _'Big brother to the Hokage… yea I think I can settle for that.'_ Kenta thought before nodded, "Alright then Otōto you're on."

Both brothers smirked at each other, and from that day their paths were set.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes**

 **Just a quick note to say thanks to all those who are reading and leaving reviews, your criticism is appreciated and taken on board to help improve my fictions.**

 **I just wanted to point out to all those who are wondering, this fiction will be mostly OC centred, so we'll be following Kenta for the most of the fiction, Naruto will make appearances, and he will be in it, being the OC's younger brother, and the main character of the series, but because of that everyone knows what he's done, no one knows what Kenta is doing, so that's what this fiction is focusing on, if you don't like that I'm sorry but that's what this fiction is, and there will be full chapters fully focused on Kenta only and sometimes Naruto won't even be mentioned, some people complained when I stay too close to the cannon, well, this time, I'm taking big steps away from it, expanding as it were**

 **And I see in the reviews we've already got our first question of who's going to be in the harems, well, as I'm writing this I'm messaging Ryujomaru15 now to ask if we should spoil…**

 **Psy556: "Hey, do you think we should give the harem listings in chapter two, or let the readers stew for a little while thinking about who all's going to be in them?"**

 **Ryu15: "I think that a little mystery is fun for a while so let everyone keep guessing for a while."**

 **Well there it is guys, sorry but you're going to have to just wait a bit more for the official harem listings, but I can say that one of the girls for Kenta's harem will be coming in this chapter, it was one of the first major changes Ryu recommended to me and I loved the idea, so I hope you all do to.**

* * *

 **"Kage Bunshin"- Jutsus**

 _'What a drag'-Thought_

"Too troublesome"-Speech

 ** _'Ningen'- Demon thought_**

 ** _"Ningen"-Demon speech_**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 ** _Time skip- Three Months_**

In the forest area beyond the Hokage monument, two blurs could be seen deep inside traveling at high speeds as one clearly chased the other.

The red blur flies ahead of the purple one at a faster rate before pulling a turn and swings behind a tree as the purple blur continues on. After several seconds Kenta Uzumaki sticks his head out from behind the tree as he tried to catch his breath.

 _'I swear that woman is mental and needs to be far away from any and all kinds of pointy objects for everyone's safety',_ Kenta thought to himself as he slowly felt himself getting his breath back. He was about to take off again only to stop when the silent sound of objects cutting through the air caught his attention followed by three soft thuds before Kenta lost his balance and fell off the branch he was on showing the three Senbon needles in his back, but before he hits the ground he disappears in a puff of smoke leaving a log in his place.

Anko then lands on the branch just a bit higher up looking down with a smirk, "Nicely done with the substitution, I almost thought I had you there for a second." she said as Kenta dropped down from the canopy above onto his original branch looking up at the snake user with a smirk.

"Thanks, you almost would have if I hadn't heard them at the last second." Kenta said with sigh, he knew it had just been luck he knew if she'd thrown them at the real chakra enhanced speed he'd have been dead.

Both Anko and Kenta turned in the direction of the now splintered log on the ground as both put their hands together and bowed, "You're sacrifice will not be forgotten." he said in a grateful tone only to jump off the branch the next second dodging another set of Senbon needles.

Grabbing the handle of his sword around his waist he pulls it free before thrusting it forward as the blade extends out as it spears a tree, then in a fluid motion Kenta pulls on it launching himself forward pulling the sword out of the tree as he shot past it with Anko hot on his tail as the chase begins anew.

Ducking under another three needles Kenta started to weave hand signs before he called out mentally **_'Bunshin no Jutsu'_** , as the entire area in front of Anko was clouded in smoke and as she jumped through it she smirked as she counted ten Kenta copies jumping from branch to branch in front of her.

"Not bad." Anko called as she raced after them, "Trying to buy yourself some time to find another spot to slip away?" she mused as she took out another handful of Senbon needless with a grin, "Sorry, but that's not going to work." she said before jumping higher into the air and raining the Senbon needles down with deadly accuracy on all the clones, only for all of them the disappear.

Anko immediately stops on a branch and scowls, ' _Little brat actually gave me the slip, must have been the clone's smoke cloud when he took off, he gets points for creativity I give him_ that' she mused as she was about to turn to track him down only to stop when she saw movement as Hiruzen came around one of the trees as he looked up.

"Ah there you are Anko" Hiruzen called up to her, "I just came out to see how Kenta was progressing. Where is…" Hiruzen started to ask as Anko drops down onto the ground but before he could finish she was on him with a kunai drawn about to run him through.

"Nice try with the Henge Gaki, but I'm not going to fall for…" Anko grinned thinking she'd got him only to be shocked when the Hokage turned into smoke making her eyes go wide, "a Bunshin!" she said in shock only to freeze feeling the cold metal of Kenta's sword at the back of her neck and she smirks, "Nice one, a Bunshin with a Henge, I didn't even sense you using chakra you're getting better."

Kenta smirked, "Thanks, I figured I needed to pull something like that to get you to lower your guard for a second before I could take advantage, the Bunshin and Henge trap seemed to fit the bill." he said as he took his sword away from her neck as Anko stood up.

"And I walked right into it." Anko said shaking her head, "I must be losing my touch training you these past three months, but damn if it hasn't been worth it to see you grow. You learned those Jutsu in no time flat and then you used them in a combat situation, I'm almost impressed." she said as a smirk crossed her face.

Kenta smirked, "Well with a Senseis or rather slave drivers, like you and Gai-san drilling me into the ground every day it's hard not to get good."

Anko laughed, "Hey I'm not as bad as that spandex wearing freak, but I think it's safe to say that between the two of us we've whipped you into shape. Your chakra control could use some work and you can't make any less that ten clones at a single time, but that's a given due to your huge chakra reserves. However I think we can get it to Jōnin level control by the time you start the academy and I think it's safe to say you've got those academy Jutsu down flat. What did eyebrows say about your Taijutsu?"

Kenta sweat dropped, "Well removing all the "flames of youth" comments he said I'm at an acceptable level for someone my age. I've got the academy style down flat and he says he has a few styles that might be a good fit for me and that he'll be bringing some scrolls of them to our next training session in a weeks time."

Anko nodded and was about to speak when a third voice cut through the moments silence, "Well it certainly sounds like things are progressing well in your training Kenta-kun." spoke Hiruzen as he came around one of the trees.

Anko bows seeing the Hokage and Kenta smirked before doing the same, "Hey Jiji what brings you all the way out here?"

Hiruzen smiled, "Well I just came out to check on your progress, but when I came in to sight the first thing I saw was Anko attacking what looked to be a Bunshin of myself. Just what are you two training out here for, pray tell?" Hiruzen asked raising an eyebrow.

Both Anko and Kenta rubbed the backs of their heads sheepishly, "Sorry Jiji, I needed a transformation that could at the least be viable for someone who would come out here, Gai-san is away on that mission and you're the only other person that knows we're out here."

Hiruzen chuckled at Kenta's reasons, "I understand my boy no harm done, and it was a very cleaver plan, I can see Anko-chan's reports on you haven't been wrong. You certainly have come a long way in the past three months, I'd even say you're beyond any academy students level by now to be able to keep a Chūnin shinobi like Anko here running for over an hour and preform all academy Jutsu. I'd make you Genin right now if there wasn't a mountain of paperwork involved with early admissions." Both Anko and Kenta sweat dropped at that statement.

Kenta then grinned, "Thanks Jiji, I hope this means you're going to let me into the shinobi library now that I've got the basics down, I really want to see what Jutsu there are."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Of course Kenta-kun, I've had your permit and a training ground ready for you ever since Anko's last report I knew you wouldn't take long." Hiruzen said as he took out a card and scroll out from inside his robes before tossing them to Kenta, "The card will allow you access to the shinobi library and the scroll is an all access permit to training ground forty three beside the forest of death. Which is rarely used due its proximity to the forest, which Anko has taken to making her own personal training ground."

Anko grinned, "Yep no better place to have some fun. Feel free to drop in, I can guarantee it will be quite the experience." Anko said as she leaned on Kenta's shoulder with a grin, "Man I can't wait to see what you're going to be like in twenty one months, you'll be ripping it at the academy heck, you might be the next first year graduate since that Itachi."

Kenta frowned and shook his head, "No I won't be. I intend to hold back my skills at the academy as best I can." Kenta announced which brought looks of shock and confusion to Anko and Hiruzen's faces.

"But why would you want to do that Kenta?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yea wasn't all this meant to be about becoming a shinobi sooner?" Anko asked after.

Kenta shook his head, "In a way yes, but in the most part it's just preparation. I want to be able to protect myself and Otōto and I can only do that if I'm close to him as much as possible. If I graduated early I'd be a Genin and likely within two years a Chūnin, all the time doing missions and rank C or above will likely take me away from the village and Otōto too I can't let that happen." Kenta said before he gave Hiruzen a pleading look, "I'm sure you've noticed by now Jiji the cold, unfeeling looks we both get from everyone else in the village. I don't know what is pushing these feelings, but if I were to be away on missions while Otōto was here in the village, he'd be all-alone sometimes for weeks at a time or maybe even months and he'd be all alone. I couldn't do that to him even if it is to keep him safe. So I realized I'm going to be staying in the academy as a student until we both come out at the same time that way we can both be on the same team and do missions together, or at the very least by then he'll have comrades that can help him and be friendly with so he won't be so lonely."

Hiruzen smiled nodding in understanding, everything he was doing was for his brother's safety and Hiruzen couldn't have been more proud of Kenta's way of thinking. He could see the fire burning behind his young eyes, it burned to protect the ones he cared for, his brother and those close to him, and it was the fire that would never go out.

With a grin Anko grappled Kenta into a playful headlock laughing to herself, "Aw~ who knew you were such a little softy Gaki." Anko teased as they wrestled.

In the headlock Kenta growled in irritation as his hand immediately went to his pocket and in a fast draw Kenta pulled out a kunai and in one fluid motion jabbed it into Anko's skirt covered behind. The snake charmer's eyes then shot open wide before she shot up comically into the air her hand holding her ass as she lets out a scream of "OWWWWWWWW-" which caused all birds in the trees to take off into the sky.

Kenta just twirled the kunai around his finger before smirking as he returned it to his pocket, "I warned her, another comment on my height or age, and I'd be sticking a kunai up her ass."

Hiruzen chuckled slightly, "That you did my boy. Now Kenta-kun are you sure you want to hold back in the academy other students may see you as a weakling and try to take advantage of that?"

Kenta just gives a little chuckle "Let them try Jiji, when I say I'll be holding back that doesn't mean by a lot. I'm going for the rookie of the year slot at the end of it all, but it will be after the four years."

As Kenta finished speaking Anko finally came back to the ground, "-WWWW!" before crashing back into the ground still rubbing her backside, "Gaki! That hurt!" she yelled in anger before tossing three kunai at him.

Kenta shocked both Anko and Hiruzen by reacting faster than they thought he could and caught all three in mid-air with a smirk, before dropping them, "I'll be taking the rest of the day off today, I want to go check out the library and make sure Otōto isn't getting himself into any trouble, I'll stop by your office after the library Jiji, if I have any questions."

"Not a problem Kenta-kun." Hiruzen said as he waved to the boy as he walked off back towards the village.

Anko got up still rubbing her backside, "Damn that Gaki can't take a joke." she said walking over to beside the Hokage as her face grew slightly serious, "Are you sure this is wise Hokage-Sama, to allow Kenta to hold himself back just for the sake of his brother?" she asked in concern.

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head, "I've never put this forward, but I've never agreed with the graduating age of the academy. If I had my way it would be admittance at thirteen and then graduation only after five years and the curriculum would be a lot harder to strengthen the students. I don't like sending children into battle or into danger, but it seems that's what has to be done. So if a child holds himself back in order to protect someone or until he's ready I will not force him or her to do otherwise. They should enjoy their lives to the fullest and enjoy their childhoods as long as possible, don't you agree?"

Anko gave a small smile and nodded, "Yea, one thing's for sure though, when that Gaki does graduate he's going to be one hell of a shinobi."

Unbeknownst to both of them hidden high in the trees they were being watched by a small child like figure all in black with a plain white mask on his face, with just the Kanji for NE on its forehead as it mentally took notes on what had just occurred before disappearing into a swirl of leaves.

* * *

 **Scene break- with Kenta**

Coming out of the forests treeline Kenta kept walking at a brisk pace heading right for the cliffs edge and didn't stop as he stepped over the edge and began to climb down the flat surface with just his feet. _'That tree climbing exorcise really comes in handy'_ Kenta thought as he began to walk down the face of the cliff.

Getting to a reasonable height from the rooftops Kenta channelled chakra into his legs and pushed off in a jump and landed on the rooftops his fall braced by chakra as he continued on his way by roof tops to avoid the civilian's glaring at him on the streets below.

Reaching a junction in the streets Kenta paused to catch his breath only to hear a loud crash and a bang before a pink smoke filled one of the shops below, Kenta recognized it as one of the shops that had over charged him and Naruto for their clothing. This confused Kenta for a second before out of the smoke burst his blond brother followed by the shopkeeper who was covered in a neon pink paint with glitter and feathers speckling his body.

Kenta had to hold in his laughter at the sight of the man and looking at the other spectators they were doing the same as the man started to give chase to Naruto yelling and cursing as he went. Though it was difficult to make out given the fact his mouth was filled with paint and feathers.

As they approached the junction Kenta decided to intervene and get his Otōto out of there as he reached into his pocket and took out three smoke pellets before taking aim.

As both Naruto and the man reached the junction the smoke pellets hit the ground and in seconds the area was filled with smoke as the red blur of Kenta shot into the smoke and a red and blond blur shot out and as the smoke cleared all that was left was the shop keeper still covered in paint, feathers and glitter now getting pointed and laughed at by all onlookers.

Three streets away Kenta landed in an alleyway as he set Naruto down on the ground as they both started laughing.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, that was a good one Otōto, best one yet. Where the hell did you get those feathers from he looked like a half cooked chicken?" Kenta laughed holding his gut.

Naruto chuckled leaning against the wall for support, "I got them out of the trashed stock from one of the store that sells bedroom quilts. The owner dissed Ayame-Nee's and Teuchi-Ojii's ramen, so I mud bombed his store earlier and took the feathers from the ruined stock he had to throw out."

Hearing the explanation Kenta shook his head as he calmed down, "Damn you're a resourceful one Otōto, pranking one fool to get resources to prank another. I'd call you an evil genius if you didn't get caught all the time."

Naruto smirked, "But how was I not meant to? I had to see it happen and enjoy it and then I just burst out laughing as soon as it happened."

Kenta sighed, "Try watching from a distance then." he said as he started walking off, "I'm out of training early today so I'll be home shortly I just need to make a stop, Jiji finally got me my permit to get into the shinobi library and I want to see what Jutsu I can pick to learn."

"Okay Nii-chan I'll see you around." Naruto waved as his brother walked off in one direction and he in the other trying to think of whom to prank next or if he should get some Ramen to celebrate his successful pranks so far.

Kenta took to the rooftops again and it soon changed to branches as he hopped through the treeline of the training grounds, the shinobi library was on the other side so he planned on cutting through to get there. But as he was jumping from branch to branch a noise caught his attention and he stopped on the last branch and looked in the direction of the noise, it sounded like voices but there wasn't a training ground in the area they were coming from.

Deciding to investigate Kenta took off in the direction the voices were coming from, as they got louder on his approach. As he reached a small clearing to small to be a registered training ground by the river as he dropped out of the treeline and landed in the bushes seeing four kids in the small clearing.

Three boys each looked slightly older than him maybe by a year or two and judging by their clothing they were civilians, no clan markings, they seemed to be being lead by the middle boy who was bigger than the others and looked a bit older.

The three of them were crowding around the fourth figure; a girl with long back-length, black hair and black eyes, she had gentle features and a small stature, wearing black knee length shorts and a lighter shade top with a red band around its neck. Looking at her Kenta could tell one thing, she looked pissed off, and her glare threating to bust anyone's balls that even looked at her wrong. But it didn't seem to bother the older boys. Kenta listened in as they started again.

"So you're here again. Why the hell don't you go away?" the girl scowled at the three boys.

"Why should we do that oh high and mighty princess of the Uchiha." one boy laughed.

"Yea we don't have to listen to you, this isn't your clan's compound." another one sneered.

"No, but I was here first like I always am and yet you idiots don't seem to get the idea." the girl said with the scowl not dropping.

"Oh so we're idiots now are we, you hear that, this Uchiha slut things she's better than us." the eldest said as he balled his fists.

"Hardly, just because of your clan's freaky eyes, you think you're above us regular people, is that it?" the other glared.

"She doesn't even have her Sharingan yet, and she still thinks she's better than us." the third said.

Kenta who was watching from the bushes raised an eyebrow, _'Sharingan, that sounds interesting, one more thing to ask Jiji about later'_ he thought as he watched on.

The girl just shook her head in awe of these three idiots, "Are you three just stupid or something, not once have I said I was better than any of you, but you clearly think I am I mean you come here every time to insult me and its always the three of you. What's the matter think you can't take me one on one?" she said with a small laugh.

Kenta grinned from the bushes, _'Girls got fire'_ he thought as he watched only for it to turn to a glare as he saw the boys starting to move in on the girl.

"That's it I think it's time we teach this Uchiha slut to watch that mouth of hers." the eldest said as he cracked his knuckles as they started to crowd the girl.

That was when Kenta rose from the bushes, "Hey idiots, leave her alone," he said coming out of the bushes glare firmly in place.

The three boys turned to him and the girl looked at him in shock not knowing her had been there this whole time.

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" the eldest said as he looked to Kenta.

Kenta smirked, "Just a passer-by who dislikes bullies, especially cowardly ones who need to gang up on a girl just to prove a point."

The eldest growled in anger and Kenta could see he was pissing him off, that was the plan, _'An angry opponent is one who is likely to attack first and make the most mistakes, that's when you strike'_ Anko's word echoed in Kenta's head, and he planned to follow them, it seemed to be going to plan so far that was until one of the smaller boys spoke.

"Hey I know you! You're that joker's big brother the one that's always getting into trouble and pissing off the adults, like worthless trash." the one boy quipped earning Kenta's glare.

"What did you just say?" Kenta said as he started walking forward keeping the three boys in his line of sight, "What did you just call my Otōto?"

"Worthless trash, just like you." the boy repeated only to be blind-sided by a haymaker he never saw coming as Kenta attacked him with speed making both other boys jump back as their fiend lands at their feet.

Kenta glares at them angrily, "I was just going to let you off and tell you to leave this nice girl alone, but now I'm afraid I can't do that, not after you said something so stupid like that. Stupid fools like you who think it's alright to gang up on a girl and then put down my Otōto need to have a lesson beaten into you, once I'm done with you you'll think twice about saying anything against my family again especially since my Otōto will be Hokage one day." Kenta said in all seriousness, he knew Naruto would be because he would make damn sure it happened.

Hearing him the other two boys just burst out laughing, "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, yea right like that Baka can become the Hokage, you must have something screwed with your head." the younger one said.

"Yea if that Baka brother of yours can become the Hokage then I'm the Shodai Hokage reborn." the eldest laughed, "There's no way gutter trash like him will…" he started to say before he suddenly found the wind knocked out of him when Kenta rushed him, eyes full of anger, as he drove his fist into the older boy's gut hard making him double over and to the ground clutching his gut, Kenta had included some chakra in the punch to make sure it hurt, no one spoke ill of his Otōto's dream and didn't pay a price.

The younger boy's eyes widened as Kenta went for him throwing a heel kick to the side of his head before he could react and was sent to the ground like the first two as Kenta glared down at them his anger controlling him.

"Shut your mouths!" Kenta yelled making the girl behind him flinch hearing his anger, "I can take a lot of stuff, but when someone insults my family right to my face that crosses the line." Kenta said his fists gripping tight in his rage, "You call us trash, then what the hell does that make you!"

The girl watching was in a state of shock; she hadn't seen anyone move like that except her older brother when she saw him training once. But here was this boy her age moving with such speed and strength enough to take on boys two or three years older was amazing, and the determination in his voice had her mesmerises, only one thought was on her mind, _'Who are you?'_

The older boy on the ground snarled at the comment as he reached for his side pocket and took out the kunai he had for practice as he used his other hand to scoop up some dirt from the ground, he'd make this punk pay for this. Then he got up off the ground throwing the dirt in Kenta's face.

The dirt and gravel hit Kenta right in the eyes blocking his vision. As his hands went to his eyes to rub it away he heard the elder boy yell. "Die you trash!" he called out.

Kenta reacted and turned away from where the voice was, but was a moment too slow as he felt a burning sensation on his chin as the older boy's Kunai slashed at him. Feeling the burn Kenta reacted and reached out grabbing the older boys hand and pulling him off balance before driving his knee into the boys gut as he twisted his hand making him yelp and drop the kunai before falling to the ground clutching his wrist into his gut in pain.

Kenta wiped the dirt out of his eyes as he squinted just in time to see the first boy coming at him with a rock. Kenta just went low to dodge it before bringing his fist up in an uppercut into the boys chin knocking him flat on the ground as all three lay groaning.

The girl watching looking on in shock seeing the boy that had come to her aid hurt for getting involved as she covered her mouth as she gasped seeing the blood trickling from his chin as he rubbed his eyes, the wound went from just below the right of his lower lip down to the right of his chin and was bleeding heavily.

Kenta finished rubbing his eyes though it wasn't really doing much good at this point, he'd need to wash the dirt out but couldn't at the moment. His hand went to the wound on his chin and he hissed as he touched it and felt the pain, _'Damn it that stings'_ he thought as his hand lowered to his waste and gripped the handle of his sword as he undid the magnetic clasp and pulled it from his holds as it snapped into its solid form as he held it out at his side as he turned to the eldest boy and pointed the sword to his throat, who froze seeing the blade for the first time not having noticed it before.

"So you like blades Hm? Well how to you like mine?" Kenta said with an evil grin on his face, a trait he'd picked up over the months after seeing Anko do it so many times. He twisted the blade slightly as it caught the light from the sun making him look even more fearsome, the boy was shaking as Kenta started taking again, "So let's get one thing straight right here and now, if I ever hear you three insulting my family or anyone else again, or if I catch you three back here annoying this girl, well…" He said before leaning in to the boys ear as his grin grew more sadistic before he whispered "they won't find your bodies for months, do you catch my drift?" he said as the could hear the boy gulp in fear as he stood back up and took his sword away, the boy was still shaking as Kenta grinned, "…Boo!"

The boy yelped as he jumped clambered to his feet and started to run his two buddies running away after him yelling as they went. "Run!" "Get away!" "Tou-san was right he and his brother are both demons."

Hearing that last one Kenta scowled but just sighed he'd heard it all before. Turning he went to the water's edge and splashed some water in his face to try and clean out the dirt from his eyes.

The girl frowned hearing what the boys said as they ran away, _'If anyone's a demon around here it's them'_ she thought before she went over to help the boy who had came to her aid.

"Um are you alright?" the girl asked coming up behind him.

"He-he, yea," Kenta said as he finished up, "sorry you had to see me like that, I just can't stand Baka like them putting down my only family." he said as he used his sleeve to dry the water way as he turned to her with a smirk, "Name's Kenta, Kenta Uzumaki."

The girl frowned slightly, why was he apologising? It was those boys who should have been apologising, and her for letting him get hurt for standing up for her. "I'm Sayaka, Sayaka Uchiha." She said before bowing her head, "Thank you for helping me, I'm…I'm sorry you got hurt."

Kenta smirked as be took out one of the large bandages from his pouch, after having stocked up after day three of having Anko as a sensei, and covered the wound as he waved her off, "Ah don't worry about it, I've gotten worse in my training. My sensei's a real sadist for that kind of stuff, she says "You can't be a shinobi without getting cut up a little", but I think I prefer her Senbon needles to a kunai."

Sayaka giggled slightly hearing that, "Your sensei sounds kind of scary, but still thank you, if you hadn't come by I'm not sure what might have happened." she said smiling slightly.

Kenta nodded, "I take it those three come around here often then?" he asked getting all the information.

Sayaka nodded her head, "Yea, well whenever I come here to train in privately at least." she explained.

Kenta crossed his arms looking at her confused, "Then why don't you train in your clan's compound, you said you were an Uchiha right? Last I checked you have several training grounds registered to your clan, why come here?"

Sayaka seemed to frown when she was called "an" Uchiha, but nodded, "That's true, but they're always in use by others in my clan, and my eldest brother is always away training with my older twin brother gone to watch him."

Kenta nodded understanding, "I see, so what days do you come here to train then?" he asked curious as to how serious she was in her training, Anko had told him about "Fan girls" in the academy fawning over one of the boys in class and not taking their training seriously, he wanted to see if she was likely to be one or if she was going to be a real Kunoichi.

Sayaka frowned, "This day every week," she said sounding depressed at the fact, "the rest of the time my Tou-san has me studying at home." she said clenching her fists slightly, "He doesn't want me to be a Kunoichi, saying they're not important and weak. So this is the only place I can come to practice to prove him wrong, the one day a week my Kaa-san was able convince him to let me have off from studying." she said smiling slightly when she spoke of her Kaa-san.

Kenta frown slightly hearing that this was the only time she could train, and scowled hearing what her father had said, "Well I know my Kunoichi-sensei who would love to have him say that to her face and see what happens. But I think I might have a solution to your problem if you're open to it?"

Sayaka looked hesitant for a moment, but slowly nodded urging him to continue with his idea.

Kenta smirked, "How about I help you to train? We could meet up here to train on the days you can get away." Kenta offered, "Don't get me wrong, while training by yourself is alright, with no one to help you, your growth will be limited. Plus it means that if those idiots come around again they won't be able to bother you. Though after my little display a few minutes ago I don't think that will be a problem."

Sayaka giggled slightly hearing that last part as she started to think on his words, his logic was sound and simple, and it would be nice to have someone to train with her for a change instead of being alone. "Okay, I don't see why not." she said with a small smile.

Kenta smiled back, "Great, I'll see you here next week then say nine-ish." He offered, "I'd stay to train now, but I only just finished my own training and I've got some errands to run before I have to meet someone." Kenta explained before pausing for a second as he turned, "Plus I think it would be best if you took at least one of the days your Kaa-san got you off to relax. All the training in the world won't help you if you have a mental break down from too much stress. Plus you're too cute to not have fun once in a while." he said while walking away, had he been looking at her he would have noticed the small look of shock she had. Instead he just waved over his shoulder to her, "Well Ja-ne" he finished before jumping back into the trees and taking off.

Sayaka just stood there watching, she had managed not to react to his last words until he was gone a few seconds, but once he was out of sight a small blush appeared on her cheeks, _'He thinks I'm…cute'_ she thought as a small happy smile came to her face.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Walking into the library Kenta couldn't help but let his eyes trail up as he walked in. The size of the place was baffling to him, he was sure that he'd need a map to navigate the place or risk getting lost in the maze that was the library.

Looking to the left side of the library he could see the Shinobi section that was caged off for security, and there was a joined office space with a window where the on duty librarian sat to let people into the section.

As Kenta approached the window the girl behind the glass scowled seeing him and stood up glaring at him, "Get out, we don't need your kind here," she snapped at him.

Kenta didn't flinch and pressed the card to the glass, "I don't have time for your BS lady. See this, it means I have written permission from Hokage-Sama to use this library whenever I want. It also means he knows I'm here so if I go to him now and tell him you refused to let me in I think he'd be more than willing to find you a cell in T&I to wait in until you've thought up a good reason that Ibiki will believe as to why your refusing me entry." he said as he returned the glare equally as cold.

He knew the threat would work everyone in the village knew who Ibiki was, the head torturer of the T&I division where Anko worked. Kenta had actually had the chance to meet the man a month back when he came looking for Anko, nice enough guy a little intimidating with his height and scars, but nice none the less.

The girl continued to scowl at him but couldn't say anything in revoke as she hit the button to open the cage door. Taking his card away Kenta turned and walked in checking that there was a release button on the inside so he could enter and not worry about being locked in for hours until the hokage found him.

Walking down the rows of shelved Kenta was deep in thought, _'I'd better learn everything I can about the basics first before I try anything and the basics of all Ninjutsu is chakra so better start there and see if there's any thing Anko hasn't taught me about it yet?'_ he thought as he lifted one of the baskets for holding the scrolls and started going through the rows of scrolls slowly not wanting to miss anything that might be important, _'Chakra control, hmm I wonder what other methods there are besides the leaf and tree climbing ones?'_ he though as he put the scroll into the basket and looked to see another scroll, _'Chakra natures…wonder what that's about?_ ' he thought as he took down the scroll and put it in his basket before continuing on.

After lifting three more scrolls on the uses of chakra Kenta started going down the Ninjutsu rows, searching with a fine toothcomb. As he continued he noticed a scroll entitled "Bunshin and their categories", taking the scroll down Kenta looked at it puzzled for a moment, _'Does this mean there's more than one type of Bunshin other than what I've learned?'_ he thought before opening the scroll and reading the first section his eyes widening, _'Interesting, so shinobi can make clones through elements that can fight and aren't just projections. Very interesting indeed, that's another thing to ask Jiji about.'_ he thought as he rolled the scroll up and put it in his basket and looked back down the rows, _'Hmmm, I need something more than just these few Jutsu, something to really make me stand out and give me an edge, let's see what I can find?'_ he thinks before looking to the more advanced section of the aisles and smirked.

Coming out of the aisle a few minutes later he had his basket fairly full with another five scrolls he had picked up multiple types of Jutsu to learn, variations of Katon (fire) and Raiton (lighting) Jutsu with a few assorted Doton (earth) Jutsu and even some Suiton (water) and Fūton (wind) Jutsu, though he was a little disappointed in the limited selection of Fūton and Raiton Jutsu they had here but he'd just have to make do. _'Gotta see which type I prefer to use, Jiji said that it's good to have variation in Jutsu choices so I'll learn what I can for now."_

As he started walking into the next aisle he stopped and noticed the Bukijutsu (Weapon Techniques) section and smirked, _'Let's see here, I can't start creating my own style until I've got a grasp of the styles there are out there. So I have a grasp on what I've got to work with when the time comes and there's no time like the present.'_ he thinks as he walks over and starts his next search.

Coming out after ten minutes Kenta had a very happy look on his face as several more scrolls filled his basket, _'Perfect, I should be able to work with these and have a style in no time. It will be practicing it that's going to be the hard part. I think I'll have to see about getting a pair of armoured gloves for this, I don't want my hands cut to shreds'_ he thinks as he walks before a final aisle catches his eyes, the small Iryō Ninjutsu (Medical Ninja Techniques) aisle that he'd almost missed and a thought came to his head, _'Well that could help until I get the gloves plus it could be interesting to learn'_ he thought as he walked over and took one of the lower level scrolls after taking a quick peek and walked on.

Getting to the booking section Kenta slotted his many choices into the slot provided and pushed the slot closed only for a storage scroll to roll out the bottom slot with copies of the scrolls he'd booked sealed inside. Taking it Kenta made a beeline to the exit eager to get to Hiruzen and ask him the many questions he now had. However as he left he missed the cold glare he was getting from the librarian, who watched him go before lifting the phone to make a call.

* * *

 **Scene break**

After leaving the library Kenta quickly took to the roof tops to and started making his way to the apartment building where he and Naruto lived to drop off his scrolls, getting there he opened the scroll and looked through to find one in particular and smirked as he put it on the table in Naruto's apartment and wrote a note and placed it on top that said, "Thought this would help with watching your pranks. We'll work on it tonight when I get back"-Nii-Chan. The title of the scroll read **"Kakuremino no Jutsu" (Cloak of Invisibility Technique).**

Leaving the rest of the scrolls in his apartment Kenta walked out and took to the rooftops once more heading for the Hokage's office his head buzzing with questions that he was eager to get answered.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Hiruzen sat in his office his paperwork flow stemmed for the evening as he began to light up his pipe and took a breath before exhaling with a relaxed sigh as he smirked.

"Not many decide to enter my office that way, I can think of only one, and it seems you're taking up that habit as well now." Hiruzen smirked before looking to the open window to see Kenta sitting there shaking his head.

"What can I say, I have style." Kenta said stepping in, before looking at Hiruzen shaking his head again, "You know that's bad for your health Jiji."

Hiruzen chuckled, "When you get to my age Kenta you enjoy the little things, so what questions do you have for…" he started but stopped as his gaze settles on Kenta's chin and a small scowl settled in, "what happened to your chin Kenta, that wasn't from training."

Kenta shook his head, "Teaching some bullies a lesson for picking on those who don't deserve it, I would have let them be except they decided to run their mouths about Otōto. I couldn't let that go, just wasn't expecting one of them to throw dirt in my eyes and come at me with a kunai, they ended up worse than I did." he explained as Hiruzen pulled back the bandage checking the wound as his scowl deepened.

"It's not deep enough to require stitches, but it will scar." Hiruzen said as he replaced the bandage, "Who were they Kenta?"

Kenta shook his head, "I doesn't matter Jiji. I made sure to put the fear of Kami into them before scaring them off. They won't be trying it again."

Hiruzen was going to try and push for the names again but stopped when he saw the look in Kenta's eyes, steadfast and determined, he knew he wouldn't budge from his decision on the matter. _'There's that Uzumaki blood again'_ Hiruzen thought with a mental smirk before sighing, "Very well Kenta, if you're not wanting to press charges then all right." He said as he sat down behind his desk again, "So I take it your trip to the library was productive and you have questions."

Kenta nodded, "A fair few actually, can you tell me what exactly is this Sharingan I've heard about, I know it's involved with the Uchiha clan but what exactly does it do?"

Hiruzen blinked at the sudden and specific question, "That's a rather specific question, I'll try to explain it as best I can. You see Kenta the Sharingan is what is known as a Bloodline limit or Kekkei Genkai, this is a specific ability that is passed down through a person's blood, the Sharingan is one of the few known Kekkei Genkai that presents itself in the user's eyes and is classified as a Dōjutsu."

"So what do these Sharingan actually look like then when they're used?" Kenta asked.

Hiruzen replies, "Well when an Uchiha has awakened their Sharingan through an intense situation, their Sharingan will present itself as the Uchiha's Iris turns red and three black tomoes form in a ring. When active it gives the Uchiha abilities that are what makes the Uchiha clan so powerful; allowing them to see Chakra and detect Genjutsu with ease, enhanced vision meaning they can read lips and follow extreme movements with ease, and one of the abilities that makes them envious of most shinobi, the ability to copy any Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu with near-perfect accuracy and add it to their own skillsets."

"So you're telling me they only have to see a Jutsu with those eyes and they can copy it perfectly." Kenta said in shock his mind racing with the possibilities of such a skill.

Hiruzen nodded, "Yes as long as they can see the hand signs involved they can copy and preform it, but do not mistake this as mastering a Jutsu Kenta. While they may be able to perform it they will not be able to compare to one who has practiced the Jutsu and mastered it."

"What do you mean master it? How do you master a Jutsu?" Kenta asked trying to figure out what Hiruzen meant.

"You practice it so long and hard that you are able to perform a Jutsu with ease and without hand signs, it takes months of practice, sometimes years, to master a Jutsu to that extent and it's only by that can you truly master a Jutsu. That is what I mean." Hiruzen says.

Kenta nodded, "I see, even at that, the Sharingan is an extremely potent ability with that skill."

"Yes it is and that is only three of its abilities, others are kept secret by the clan but one thing that you should know is that should you ever fight one, do not look into their eyes, they have the power to trap you in a Genjutsu with a single glance and like that the fight is over before it even began." Hiruzen said.

Kenta gulped slightly, "That's just frightening, not being able to fight while looking at your opponents face would be tricky, you'd have to keep your eyes down and watch another part to determine their movements like their feet."

Hiruzen smirked, "Very perceptive Kenta, yes in fact I believe that Gai had been learning such a skill himself, he has a rival with one of the other Jōnin who has an implanted Sharingan and so in order to fight him when he uses it, he has learned to fight by watching his opponents feet, he might teach it to you if you ask."

"I'll have to do that Jiji, just out of curiosity what other Dōjutsu are there, you said there were others?" Kenta asks.

Hiruzen nodded, "One is just a legend, but the third belongs to the next strongest clan in Konoha, the Hyūga clan and their Dōjutsu the Byakugan. It presents itself by pulsing veins around the users eye and grants them extreme visionary abilities allowing them to see chakra networks and see through solid mass as well as full three hundred and sixty degree vision, making them great hunters and trackers as no one can hide from them. And lethal in Taijutsu with their specialized Taijutsu style the **Jūken (gentle fist) style** that targets their opponents Chakra Pathway System by closing their Tenketsu points with extreme speeds."

Kenta gulped, "That would make them tricky to beat, you couldn't sneak up on them and on top of that they'd be murder at close combat with that style, I hope I never have to fight one in the close future, I'd better start thinking up ways to counter them in fights."

Hiruzen chuckled, "If you do be sure to keep it to yourself, I don't think ether Fugaku Uchiha or Hiashi Hyūga would appreciate you telling people how to beat their clansmen, but what has brought on all these questions? Did you read about them in the library?"

Kenta shook his head, "No reason Jiji, I just over heard someone mention the Sharingan earlier and was curious is all. Actually I was hoping you could explain about two scrolls I read on chakra nature and element Bunshins."

Hiruzen blinked, "Those are rather advanced scrolls you're reading Kenta, elemental Bunshins are Chūnin rank and chakra nature is high Jōnin." he said before stroking his beard as smirked slightly, "But I don't see the harm in explaining some of the basics of those since you're curious. Firstly let's check your natural affinity is." He said as he open the lower left drawer of his desk.

"And how do we do that Jiji?" Kenta asked seeing Hiruzen reach into the drawer.

Hiruzen smirked taking out a slip of paper, "With this." he said holding out the paper. "This is what's known as chakra paper. By channelling your chakra through this paper it will tell you your elemental affinity. There are five types of chakra nature, fire, water, earth, lightning and wind. Fire turns the paper to ash, water makes it soggy, earth turns it to dust, lightning crumples it, and wind cuts it in half. So let's see what you have." Hiruzen finished as Kenta took the paper.

Nodding Kenta looked to the paper and began channelling his chakra and the effect was instantaneous. It cut in half and one part crumpled up and the other side turned soggy. Kenta blinked in shock seeing the paper and looked to Hiruzen who blinked in awe while he almost dropped his pipe.

"Well this is certainly a rarity, three chakra affinities at your age, most Jōnin have two affinities, and too have three is quite rare." Hiruzen said not taking his eyes off the paper, _'you certainly are full of surprizes, just like your Tou-san'._

Kenta couldn't help but smile slightly as he looked back to the paper, "So what does this mean Jiji?" he asked, soon to be regretting that question as Hiruzen cleared his throat.

* * *

 **Three hours later**

Kenta was now sitting down on the left sofa his head in his hands as he desperately tried to keep himself awake listening through the three hour long lecture he had walked into asking about what his new chakra affinities meant. He could remember all the Hiruzen had talked about how each affinity made it easier for him to master Jutsu of the same element and how if clans with the Kekkei Genkai could combine the elements to form knew ones, which had begun a whole history lesson on the different clans that had those Kekkei Genkai.

Through it all Kenta had made some mental notes for the next time he went to the library to look up Suiton, Fūton and Raiton Jutsus. Although there wasn't really many of those last two in the library if he recalled.

Now he was listening to Hiruzen talk about Bunshins and how they can be made of different elements, when a certain phrase caught his attention. "And then there's the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…"

"Kage Bunshin, I though there were only five elements, where's this one fit into that?" Kenta interrupted.

"Actually Kage Bunshins are created by dividing ones chakra in half and splitting it evenly so no actual elements are involved in this process. This one has an advantage over the others the clones are more durable and have added effects, but its high chakra requirements and effects make it what is known as a Kinjutsu or forbidden technique that only with my permission can it be taught. On top of which it is a B class technique that is out of your league for now." Hiruzen warns.

Kenta blinked at Hiruzen's words before grinning, "What's that Jiji, you think I can't hack it or something. I bet you I could have that Jutsu down on my own in a week if I wanted to."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Ha-ha-ha, anxious as always for a challenge," he said before shaking his head, "but this isn't something to be taken lightly Kenta. The Kage Bunshin is a dangerous technique if you use it to much you could drain all your chakra and pass out from chakra exhaustion."

Kenta smirked, "Jiji, when I first unlocked my chakra and at the beginning of my training, Anko said I had one of the largest supplies she'd ever seen. She said I had high Jōnin reserves and that's only grown as I've trained, I think I've got enough chakra to spare easy."

Hiruzen nodded his head, "Indeed I read her report on the matter", _'That's an Uzumaki's reserves for you, by the time he leaves the academy his reserves will dwarf what mine were in my prime. Perhaps he could actually pull it off, it would only help his training if he does and he could pass it on to Naruto in a few years when his own reserves become a problem'_ , "Very well Kenta I will give you permission to learn it. But first, I believe you said something about a bet?"

Kenta smirked as he looked to Hiruzen, "Yes. Alright if I can do it in one week, then you take me on as your student." He said his smirk growing, "I learn under you when I'm not studying at the academy or on my own. To be your student like the Sannin would be an honour, as well as offer me a chance to learn rare Jutsu later."

Hiruzen blinked at the sudden request and slowly a smile came to him before he burst out laughing, "Ha-ha-ha, I see, that's what you want is it?" Hiruzen laughed, "Well if you could master the Kage Bunshin at so young an age you'd definitely be noteworthy enough for that honour and it has been a while sense I took on a student, forty years actually." he said as he stood up from behind his desk and walked over to the right side book case and pressed the lower panel and channelled his chakra into it as it opened revealing an assortment of scrolls, taking one of them as it closed.

Hiruzen turned scroll in hand and smirked, "Now what to choose as a penalty if you can't…" he said as he paused to think before an even bigger smirk came to him, "I know now," he said holding the scroll out, "if you cannot master the Kage Bunshin within a week from now. Until both you and your brother graduate the academy, you will assist him in cleaning up all of his pranks even if you aren't involved and you aren't to tell him to stop."

Kenta blinked and grinned, the answer was obvious, "You're on." he said taking the scroll and opened it and started reading.

Hiruzen smirked as he walked back to his desk, "You have one week, I'll expect the scroll returned then and you'll start cleaning up your brother's pranks that day as well."

Kenta nodded as he read, "Don't be so sure Jiji, I'll have this done in no time." he said before rolling up the scroll, "You'd better be ready to start my lessons when I get back Sensei. Oh and before I forget, can we adjust my training schedule so I can have this day every week off?"

Hiruzen looked at him curiously for a second, "Why's this my boy, has something come up?"

Kenta shook his head, "Um, it's just that I have a continuous arrangement that I've got from now on so I need the day off each week to take care of it."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Very well my boy I'll arrange it with Anko. Now go on get out of here, and good luck." he said waving Kenta to leave.

Kenta nodded as he walked to the door, "You know Jiji, I can already see how this Jutsu will be useful. But I have to ask with that whole memory and consciousness part why don't you use them to do your paperwork it could give you time to do more important matters like training?" Kenta said seeing the blinking form of Hiruzen looking at him, Kenta shrugged, "Just a suggestion." he said before closing the door behind him.

Hiruzen smacked his forehead, "Damn it, why didn't I think of that." he said in a sigh just as an ANBU appeared in a Shunshin, it had a white boar mask with a red streak down its right side.

"Hokage-Sama, you're presence is requested in the council chambers, a meeting has been requested." the ANBU informed him with a slightly monotone voice.

Hiruzen sighed, "Who called for the meeting this time?" he asked rubbing his temple.

"Both the elder council and the civilian side, the reason for the meeting was not given." the ANBU replied voice still monotone.

Hiruzen nodded, "Very well then, let's get this over with, but first." he said as he formed the cross sign and two shadow clones formed, "You two get started on tomorrows paperwork and keep working the whole night, after this meeting I'm heading to bed. I haven't had an early night in five years." Hiruzen smirked before he disappeared in a Shunshin heading for the council chamber.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Arriving in the council chamber Hiruzen sighed slight seeing everyone was already there. The room as a perfect circle with the curved tables in the shape of a horseshoe with a lower area in the middle for anyone called to speak before the council.

On one side there was the civilian councillors, the more prestigious of the civilians representing the shops, businesses, banks, farms, families, restaurants, services and public facilities of the village, towards the end of the desk nearer to the Hokage's seat sat the elder council made up of three members to serve as the Hokage's immediate council in times of war it consisted of:

Homura Mitokado, a former teammate of Hiruzen's and member of the now dissolved team Tobirama; His short hair now grey and receding showing his ageing lines on his forehead more and more each day. Hit lower jaw now covered by a short grey beard and his frown ever constant, his eyes always half closes passed his jade green glasses.

Koharu Utatane, another former teammate of Hiruzens and the last member of the now dissolved team Tobirama; her grey hair pulled back in two buns with golden needle going through them like a Dango stick, on the thinker end hangs two wind chime like objects and on the thicker end was three ruby coloured spheres. Her age clearly showing on her face as she has taken to squinting over the years.

Both of which wore similar long kimonos in similar grey, brown and black colour schemes, each held closed by a grey Obi and a pale white sash.

The third member of the elder council was Danzō Shimura, an old friend to Hiruzen, though the two have very different views concerning the village's future, he also serves as the Hokage's military advisor in war time. Though he had the appearance of a frail old man, any experienced shinobi could tell differently by sensing his chakra. He normally walked with a cane and half his face was covered in bandages extending over his right eye, he also has an X-shaped scar on his chin ever since he was young, his attire consisting of a white shirt and black robe covering frim his right shoulder to his left hip and down to his feet, with a purple sash tied around his waist.

On the other side are the clan heads: First from the Hokage's chair is Shikaku Nara, Nara clan head and one of the previous members of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio; he had two scars on the right side of his face which were probably his most noticeable feature. He has dark hair tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes as well as a goatee. His ears were also pierced. Like many of the clan heads he was an active shinobi and as so wore clothing of that of a shinobi, Shikaku wore a meshed shirt underneath his flak jacket, a deer skin coat over that and hand guards. He has a genius level intelligence, but he's an extremely lazy one, so he tried to get as much sleep when he could.

Next was Inoichi Yamanaka head of the Yamanaka clan and one of the previous members of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, he was also a valued member of the torture and intelligence division and the Hokage's right hand man as Shikaku was his left; Inoichi was also a shinobi, he had long ash blond hair reaching into his back, which he wore spiky on top and ending in a long ponytail, blue-green eyes and strong facial features, which included a well-defined jaw line, wearing the standard flak jacket over a black outfit, complete with hand-guards, forehead protector and a sleeveless red haori.

Then was Chōza Akimichi the final member of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio; he is a tall, plump man with long, spiky red hair and purple markings on his cheeks, wearing a samurai like outfit which entails a black suit completed with armour that has the kanji for "food" on it. With the addition of a rope belt, hand-guards, and instead of a forehead protector he wears a hachimaki tied around his head, as most chefs do as one of the thinks Akimichi were known for was their restaurants, he also wore a pair of silver, hooped earrings.

Next came Tsume Inuzuka and currently the only female clan head among the clans, but she was not someone you would want to mess with, she has an animalistic look. She has long, spiky, untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails. She also has the clan fang markings on her cheeks as well as markings over her eyes and a dark shade of purple lipstick. She wears the standard outfit of a Konoha shinobi consisting of flak jacket and a black suit underneath with the sleeves rolled up and bandages around her legs.

After her was the more stoic face of Hiashi Hyūga, Hyūga clan head, he has long, dark-brown hair, and featureless white eyes like all members of his clan, who wield the Byakugan. He normally wears very traditional, loose fitting robes with a long-sleeved, brown haori.

Then there was Fugaku Uchiha, clan head of the Uchiha clan and just like Hiashi rather stoic, his dark brown hair reaching to the base of his neck with the front cut shorter and parted at the front, he wore a simple grey kimono with a white diamond pattern around its neck rim with a pair of grey pants and wooden sandals.

And then finally came Shibi Aburame, head of the Aburame clan, like all members of his clan, has his eyes obscured by dark glasses which feature a single tassel hanging down from one-side. He has very spiky short black hair and a moustache, and wears a high collared outfit.

As Hiruzen walked to and took his seat he noticed someone who normally wasn't present for the meetings. Beside Fugaku stood the smaller form of his young daughter Sayaka Uchiha, her presence confused him for a moment before deciding to let things play out to find out exactly what was going on as he sighed once more before speaking, "Alright what is the reason behind this meeting?"

At his words one of the civilian council members stood up and Hiruzen frowned seeing her, Mebuki Haruno, one of the more vocal members of the civilian side. Mebuki is a fair-skinned woman with shoulder-length, blonde hair with a single bang, which falls down into her face. She also has green eyes and wears a white qipao dress with three red circular designs at the bottom of the front of her dress as well as the back. Underneath the dress, she wears pink ¾-length pants along with brown sandals.

"Hokage-Sama, it has been reported by concerned citizens that one Kenta Uzumaki assaulted three civilian children in a small forest area with a sword. The parents of this children wish to press charges for the assault." Mebuki spoke her tone respectful but confidant.

After she had spoken there were a few whispers going round the civilian side whispers of demons influencing children and such, but they were quickly silenced when Hiruzen cleared his throat leaking a small amount of Sakki get the attention back to himself.

"I see." Hiruzen said before sighing to himself while thinking, _'I thought this might happen'_ , "Are there any witnesses to this alleged attack that can verify the events?"

"Hai, Hokage-Sama. The three boys reported that Sayaka Uchiha was present in the area at the time of the attack and it was requested that she was brought here to give her statement before the council on events." Mebuki reported as she sat back down.

Fugaku looked to his daughter with his usual cold eyes and gestured for her to step out, she bowed respectfully before walking to the centre of the room, her emotions in check like she had been taught to do so during official events.

Hiruzen smiled down to the girl before speaking gently, "Sayaka, can you please inform us on the events of which we are currently discussing and please don't leave anything out." he ask giving his best grandfather tone, Uchiha or not she was still a little girl and this would be a frightening experience for her.

Sayaka nodded her head with a small smile before letting it fade as she began to speak. "Hai Hokage-Sama. I witnessed the events these boys have reported, but what they failed to mention was that it was they themselves who provoked the attack, first by insulting myself and the Uchiha clan."

Hearing that Fugaku's eyes narrowed, he had not been informed of this as his glare levelled on the civilian side as he continued to listen to his daughter testifying.

"To which Uzumaki-san came to my defence vocally, then in retaliation the boys insulted his own family to which Uzumaki-san warned them to stop, but they continued to do so before the first blow was given by Uzumaki-san. The other boys continued to insult him and he quickly put them both down only using his own fists. It was the oldest boy who first pulled his weapon and injured Uzumaki-san by slashing at his chin after blinding him with dirt. Though he was easily disarmed and knocked to the ground by Uzumaki-san, followed by the third boy who attacked Uzumaki-san with a rock. It was only then did Uzumaki-san draw his sword as a deterrent to any further actions against him before advising the boys to leave." Sayaka finished giving a head bow.

This caused some more whispers to go through the room, most questioning how Kenta had such skill at his age and where he'd gotten the sword.

Shibi Aburame then asked a question, "Uchiha-san, might I enquire as to why you were in that area to begin with?" he asked out of minor curiosity.

Sayaka paused for a moment feeling her Tou-san's gaze on her before she spoke, "I go there on my day of from study to relax, the river side is peaceful and I find it a quiet place to gather my thoughts. The boys in question often decide to try and provoke me into disgraceful actions through insults, when that happens I normally leave. This time I chose to retort questioning their own strength if they felt that they needed to be in a group just to come and insult myself, they were on the verge of assaulting myself when Uzumaki-san came to my aid."

Hiruzen couldn't help but smirk slightly hearing Sayaka explain, _'Now I see, so this is where Kenta's fascination of the Sharingan came from and why he wanted this day off every week, it's good to see he's found a friend'_ , Hiruzen thought before clearing his throat, "It sounds to me that it is the boys who are in the wrong here. They provoked the incident and were blatantly looking for trouble and it was one of them who drew and used their weapons first and even injured Kenta as well. An injury, I had the chance to inspect less than a few hours ago when he came and reported the incident to me. The injury isn't life threatening, but will no doubt leave a nasty scar on his face. But Kenta expressed his wish for charges not to be pressed; as such I recommend the matter is dropped. It was a child's fight that got out of control, nothing more."

Fugaku let his scowl drop and closed his eyes before speaking, "I second the motion." he spoke out getting some questioning glances from the other clan heads, "Uzumaki-san was acting partially in defence of my daughter and clan, so I will act in defence of him on this matter," he continued before opening his eyes and looking to Hiruzen, "Hokage-Sama, might I request my thanks for this act be given to Uzumaki-san and my apologies that he was hurt on the matter such an outcome was most unfortunate."

Hiruzen nodded in acceptance, "Very well, I will pass it on the next I see him." he replied getting a nod from the Uchiha clan head as Sayaka returned to his side.

At this point Koharu from the elder council spoke up, "Be that as it may, there is still the matter of the sword he possessed, where he got it from and the possibility that it might be stolen."

Danzō then chose this time to speak as well, "Perhaps, it has also come to my attention from an anonymous source that the boy is being trained in secret for the past three months, before he's even in the academy."

Hiruzen settled a glare on Danzō as his fists clenched, _'Anonymous source my ass, he has someone watching them, or rather Kenta…what are you plotting Danzō'_ Hiruzen thought only to be pulled out of them as Mebuki spoke as well.

"I was also informed by the librarian that he forced his way into the shinobi library this evening and took scrolls of Jutsus and techniques." she said as voices began to circle the room growing louder.

Sayaka meanwhile was listening and wasn't sure what to think of all this. They were talking about someone her age breaking into the library that was for shinobi and guarded by shinobi, and stealing scrolls. Even to her that was ridiculous, she knew first hand that Kenta has some skill but not enough to pull something like that off.

Hiruzen hearing the final statement had a scowl on his face which only deepened as the voiced grew before he finally decided to silence them as he spoke with a raised voice, "Enough!" he said as he let out a burst of low Sakki enough to silence the whole room, "These matters are easily answered. Three months ago Kenta came to me and made a reasonable request for early training before the academy, reasoning that he'd be at a disadvantage from the other children who had parents to get the ready for the academy and that clan children would even receive training by now."

Most clan heads were nodding slightly, most of them had begun training their children for the academy by teaching them clan techniques as was tradition to give them time to learn them, so to request early training wasn't much to ask and given his orphan status he wouldn't have anyone to turn to bar the Hokage for such a request.

Hiruzen took a breath before continuing, "I found his request to be reasonable and assigned him a newly promoted Chūnin to help him get started and get him ready for the academy. The sword was given to him on my orders to arm him and start him on his training. Today he passed a test I gave him on his skill set and as a reward I gave him access to the shinobi library to further advance his knowledge, under the supervision of his Chūnin instructor. There was no theft involved in anything, and I will personally look into any such allegations tomorrow morning, as I believe them to be blatant lies." Hiruzen noticed Danzō was about to speak but cut him off, "As Hokage it was under my digression to grant privileges such as have been given Kenta as his arguments for them were within reason."

Hearing his tone the civilians decided it wise not to dispute his decision and the clan heads nodded in agreement, Fugaku gave Hiruzen a curious glance which was rare for him, before speaking, "Uzumaki-san sounds like a rather level headed young man to be able to form such compelling arguments at his age."

Hiruzen nodded in agreement, "That he is. Its sometimes like talking with an adult with him, though he can still act his age at times. Now if that is all…" Hiruzen said as he stood up, "this meeting is adjourned and I bid you all good night." he said, and then used the Shunshin to get away before another topic could be brought up. He went to bed knowing his clones would pick up the paperwork.

* * *

 **Scene break- six days later**

Hiruzen was sitting in his office with his feet up as he exhaled smoke from his pipe after another day of form filling. Letting out a breath as he relaxed, the past six days had been the most relaxing he'd had in the past ten years as Hokage, each day his clones had been on paperwork duty and he hadn't had to do anything but make them for the task, before sitting back and relaxing as he enjoyed his free time. He'd actually been able to train for the first time in a long time and he wasn't pleased with how poor his condition had been it would take a lot of work to get him back to his former strength, but he had time now to do so with no rush.

He was about to bring out his little orange book and relax further when the door knocked making him sigh, _'Another time then'_ he thought before putting the book back into his robes, "Come in." he called as the door opened as Kenta walked in with a grin on his face and scroll in his hand.

Hiruzen smiled seeing him, "Ah Kenta it's been six days so far, how goes the Jutsu? Don't be ashamed coming asking for help. If you want we can call off the bet…" Hiruzen started to offer but stopped when he saw Kenta's grin growing even more.

"Actually Jiji, I've come to tell you something." Kenta started as he raised his hands up into the familiar cross sign, " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** " he called out before he was covered in smoke before revealing three Kenta standing before an astounded Hiruzen, """I've got it down already."""

Hiruzen was astounded looking at Kenta, _'only ten years old and to have already got the hang of such a high level Ninjutsu like this. Just what are you capable of Kenta?'_ Hiruzen thought as two of the Kenta's poofed into smoke revealing the original grinning like mad which only served to make Hiruzen chuckle before shaking his head, "You never do cease to amaze me, though I suppose I should probably get used to it, my new student." Hiruzen smiled, _'I haven't had a student for years, it will certainly be nice to relive the experience'_ Hiruzen though before an old smile came to his face one that had normally made the Sannin shiver when they were younger, "But don't think I'll be going easy on you just because you're young I'm going to work you into a great shinobi."

Kenta grinned back before putting his hands together and bowing, "I wouldn't have it any other way, Hokage-sensei."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Enough of that now, call me Sarutobi, as my new student that is only fitting. Now get on home before it gets dark." Hiruzen said as he gestured to the door with a smile

Kenta nodded with a grin, "Hai Sarutobi-sensei." he said as he went for the door but stopped then Hiruzen called him.

"Oh Kenta," Kenta turned only to see Hiruzen smiling at him, "I'm extremely proud of you learning such an advanced Jutsu at your age in six days is an achievement in itself." Hiruzen said with a proud smile.

That was when Kenta grinned even more, "Oh it didn't take me six days I had it done in two." Kenta said like it was nothing.

At that Hiruzen's eyes went wide as he registered what he had just been told, "Two days." he spoke making sure he heard right, "…Then why, why did you wait so long before coming to tell me?"

Kenta chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head slightly embarrassed, "Well to be truthful I kind of lost track of time. Once I was able to hold the clones for an hour I started to really notice their effects of how their experiences and memories come back to me, so I kind of went overboard using them to read as much as I could and practice my chakra control. In the beginning I could only create five clones but by day two that was up to fifty and by three I had a hundred and fifty. I then had them split into groups and start reading everything they could in the library. The librarian nearly had a heart attack when I used the clones there and we got to work, I think I've read two sections already, but there's still so much left."

At that moment Hiruzen was doing the Fish out of water Jutsu his mouth gaping and his eyes wide at what he was being told, such a method of training shouldn't have been possible, well for normal people that was, normal people with normal chakra reserves. But Kenta he was beyond the norm, he was an Uzumaki and if there was one thing they loved to do was break the norm repeatedly.

Finally snapping out of his Jutsu Hiruzen chuckled, "Kenta, you are truly one of a kind, learning that Jutsu and in the same day discovering its side effect and making it work for you I should have expected this from you. Originally this technique was meant for spying and recognisance, but to use it as you have isn't something normal people can do due to our reserves because we could never make enough clones for it to have as great an effect as much as yours can."

Kenta grinned, "I kind of figured that out too Jiji, well I'll see you the day after tomorrow Jiji."

"Be here and nine sharp and I'll begin your first lessons, and we'll put your clones to work also." Hiruzen said with a smirk.

Kenta nodded, "Hai Sarutobi-sensei." he said before running out the door heading home leaving a smirking Hiruzen in his office who shook his head in disbelieve.

 _'Two days for a B-rank Ninjutsu like the Kage Bunshin…I may just have my work cut out for me, that boy will make a fine shinobi'_ Hiruzen thought before looking to the picture of the Yondaime Hokage on the wall, _'You would be proud Minato and I'm sure he will rub off on Naruto shortly, those two are practically inseparable.'_


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's notes**

 **Ok guys here's the latest chapter, reviews have been a lot slower than I've been hoping, but numbers are still good for the early stages of a fiction, so please leave a review and let me and Ryu know what your thoughts are on the fiction.**

* * *

 **"Kage Bunshin"- Jutsus**

 _'What a drag'-Thought_

"Too troublesome"-Speech

 ** _'Ningen'- Demon thought_**

 ** _"Ningen"-Demon speech_**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Time skip Nine months**

In training ground forty-three's training area Kenta and Anko stood facing off against each other both smirking at each other as they both stood in their respective Taijutsu stances.

Anko in a lower stance legs apart, right foot in front of her left, fists raised slightly with her back arched ready to attack. Across from her Kenta stood in his stance right arm raised horizontal in front of him palm facing down, his left arm was close to his side palm facing up, his body at an angle, his fists weren't normal they were closed into fists but only to the second joints, leaving the thickest section of the fingers out straight, his thumbs pulled into the open palm.

Both were wearing their normal combat attire as Hiruzen watched them from underneath his sun umbrella shade a small smile on his face as he watched yet another spar between the two. Over the past nine months Kenta's skills had improved drastically, and in some ways, Hiruzen was sure Kenta was hiding some of his skills, which he approved of fully. Deception is a shinobi's greatest weapon after all.

For the past nine months they'd nothing but train each day, as Kenta soaked up everything they had to teach him and then some. Gai had returned and working with Kenta had chosen a fighting style for him to learn and was the style that suited him perfectly, it was the perfect combination of speed and strategic targeting that Kenta had excelled at as he learned how to defeat his opponents with ease.

Gai had commented that he'd never seen anyone like Kenta pick up a style so quickly and that his "Flames of youth" could one day even rival is own, with a blinding sparkle coming off his teeth when he gave his patented "Nice guy" pose which had inadvertently left Kenta partially blinded for the rest of the week from its brightness.

Kenta looked to Anko his jaw line set with a smirk on it, his most prominent feature on display, the scar on his chin only added to his overall "Badass look" as Anko had commented back when she first saw it. She'd said it made him look much more fearsome and when he finally became a shinobi he'd likely get more to match it. Kenta couldn't help but smirk as he remembered back when he'd got the scar and the week after that it was healed.

* * *

 **Flashback**

Kenta was jumping from rooftop to tree branch heading for the clearing with scrolls in his hands. It was the day after Hiruzen had accepted him as his pupil and their lessons officially began tomorrow. But for today he had a promise to keep by meeting with Sayaka to train, which was what the two scrolls in his hands were for.

Landing in the clearing Kenta took a quick second to scan the area from left to right and back, he was alone and Sayaka wasn't there yet. Kenta shrugged, before making his way over to one of the trees.

 _'Well might as well get the place ready for some real training then, first things first a kicking post and sparing_ ring' Kenta thought as he pulled his sword from his waist and started to make his way over to the treeline.

* * *

 **One hour later**

Sayaka was making her way through the trees with a look of disappointment etched on her face as she headed to the clearing. She knew she was late for her training session with Kenta. She had been looking forward to it all week finally she would have someone to help her and she would have been training already had it not been for her Tou-san's attempt to stop her leaving. After the incident last week with the boys he'd been angry with her for not telling him before and had been close to taking away her one day a week off from her studies or worse limiting her to only the clan compound, to her that place was like a prison. The majority of the clan followed her Tou-san's way of thinking in terms of what a woman's place in shinobi society was. It hadn't been that way under her grandfather, but when her father became clan head after her grandfather's passing he immediately pulled all Uchiha Kunoichi who were married or in a relationship from service and gave the order for their clan's numbers to be increased to make the clan stronger.

Sayaka of course, knew what that had meant. She was extremely mature for her own age and her Kaa-san had told her all about the "birds and the bees" along with all that it entailed to prepare her for the life she might one day lead. Her father had begun to looking for a worthy Uchiha to marry her off to when she gets older. When he found one he'd have her begin a whole other set of lessons about in pleasing her future husband, but that wouldn't be for years, not that she was looking forward to it in the slightest. All the boys in her clan, save for Itachi and Shisui, were just like their Tou-san's who respected her Tou-san's opinion on women so she would end up with someone who would treat her like a second class whore no matter what she did.

Shaking her head, she just tried to forget about it all, it was in the future and not a concern right now. Instead she focused on the training she was going to be doing thanks to her Kaa-san arguing with her Tou-san on the topic of her day off and her eldest brother telling her to run while he was distracted giving her the opening to escape.

She knew her Tou-san would be angry, but she also knew her Kaa-san and Nii-chan could handle him, her Kaa-san hadn't been an elite Jōnin in her prime for nothing. That had been one of the reasons she had discovered that her Tou-san had called for all Kunoichi in relationships and marriages to retire because she'd surpassed him in rank while he was just a Jōnin. Plus her Nii-chan was an ANBU captain on top of that, she'd found his weasel mask one day along with his captains' band when she went into his room looking for his Pocky stash so she wasn't worried.

As she approached the clearing she started hearing noises coming from ahead of her, the sound of repeated thumping and grunts of effort. As she got closer she was able to make out a figure in the area and she immediately started blushing seeing Kenta ahead of her in the area, he was repeatedly kicking a large portion of a tree trunk that looked to have a large portion of it buried beneath the ground keeping it in place. But the thing Sayaka was blushing at was the fact that Kenta was training shirtless in only his trousers and boots on. His shirt and flat jacket hanging off his sword just a bit to the left as Kenta swapped from right leg to left as he rotated his kick on the wooden post, he also had black wrappings from his upper forearms down to his hands for their protection. He had obviously had been at it a while as his body was glistening with sweat from his exercise and Sayaka had to stifle back a small moan seeing him. He wasn't a hulk by any means, but his body was built in a way that showed the results from his training. Not a bit of body fat all lean muscle from training, with some slight scarring here and there that only added to his overall look. He was fit, very-very fit.

Sayaka quickly found herself watching Kenta with some fascination as she remembered her Kaa-sans talk about the men and women and couldn't help but let her mind imagine what it would be like. But as soon as she thought it her face went beet red like a tomato before she shook her head rapidly, _'No! Bad Sayaka bad, keep those thoughts out, no! You only just met him once… and he… call me… cute…maybe…No bad Sayaka no lewd thoughts we're too young for that sort of thing'_ Sayaka raged in her mind as she tried to bring herself back to why she was here. After several moments of steadying her breathing she continued her way into the clearing but couldn't help but bite the inside of her lip as she continued to look at Kenta's shirtless form.

Coming out from the trees Kenta caught sight of her and smirked seeing her as he stopped kicking and turned to wave. Sayaka returned it but, bit down on her lip nearly making it bleed when she got a full frontal look of Kenta without his shirt and mentally screamed, _'Dear kami he's gorgeous!_ ' As she watched him move for his shirt frowning slightly as he covered up, but said a silent prayer of thanks when she saw his shirt was practically clinging to him like a second skin.

"You're late." Kenta said as he finished pulling on his shirt and turning to Sayaka with a smirk.

Sayaka frowned, "Sorry, but my Baka-Tou-san tried to ground me to the clan compound after last week with those boys. Things have been a bit rocky at home the past week."

Kenta nodded in understanding, "It's ok no harm done, I just took the time to get the place set up for us and get some training in myself." he said gesturing to look around.

Sayaka looked around and she blinked at what she saw. She hadn't really been looking around them before as 'other things' distracted her, but now that she was she could see he had completely set up a small training area; several trees had been cut down and there was a two kicking posts set up with ten meters in between them, there were a number of logs tied together and stacked in a pile with multiple targets carved into them for throwing practice, a small sitting area with two smaller posts for seats around a series of slightly taller posts bound together as a table, with two scrolls sitting on it. She was really impressed he had done all this in an hour by himself. All she could say was "Wow."

Kenta chuckled, "It's not really that much, it's just the start of what we'll need to get to the basics. Come on I got some things for us to start with, I'm assuming you already know how to use your chakra?"

Sayaka nodded, "Yea Itachi-Nii-chan showed me how to when I asked him and he even showed me how to start getting better control of it. But he's been really busy so he hasn't had time to show me anything else and anytime he could Sasuke-Nii was there so he didn't want to risk Tou-san finding out."

Kenta scowled hearing that, "Damn that sucks, well don't worry I'll help you as best I can. I've got scrolls from the library all about chakra control and loads of other things too so you're in good hands."

Sayaka blinked remembering the meeting a week back about how Kenta had been accused of stealing scrolls from the shinobi library and how the Hokage had dismissed the claims by explaining Kenta's early training for the academy, this would be her chance to finally learn. She wasn't allowed in the Uchiha Jutsu library due to her age and mostly if her father caught her she'd really be in trouble then with his views. She'd been planning to ask her Kaa-san or Itachi to try and get her something but with this now she didn't have to risk it or risk getting them in trouble for her.

Kenta opened the two scrolls and unsealed the contents one being from his first visit to the library and the second from two days prior when he had gone again to do another sweep of the Jutsu section just in case he'd find something he'd missed the first time, and boy had he. He'd failed to notice the back section with a couple of sweet Jutsu, though he doubted very much that Sayaka would be able to do them with her likely chakra level. Though he did pick up some fire Jutsu after reading that's what most Uchiha's prime affinities were so he thought that would be something she'd like to learn. Plus he was willing to give it a go himself even if he had different affinities.

Seeing the large pile of scrolls Sayaka's eye widened there were so many. She mentally jumped for joy with excitement looking over each of the scrolls labels; she was so spoiled for what to start with first. Did she want to start with something small or just go right for something large…? She started to think, but then stopped when a light blue-ended scroll caught her eye, it was smaller than the rest and it intrigued her. Reaching out she took the scroll and opened it her eyes immediately widened, it was a scroll for Iryō Ninjutsu (medical Ninjutsu) and her heart soared to new heights, this was her chance.

Kenta saw Sayaka's eyes sparkle slightly with excitement as she opened the Iryō Ninjutsu scroll, he recognised it straight off and he smirked, "Iryō Ninjutsu, interesting choice. I picked that up when I was thinking about learning some to treat some of my smaller wounds from training. You interested in learning some?"

Sayaka immediately nodded as she kept reading, "Absolutely, I've always wanted to learn this. You see when Sasuke and I were born; he was the strong one, born perfect with no problem. While I was born four months later, doctors called it a delayed Interval birth so I was born weaker. The doctors said I had a very slim chance of living past my first week, but it was because of the Iryō Ninjutsu specialists that I was saved. My Kaa-san always thanks them every time she sees them because without them I wouldn't be here. It's because of that I want to be one too, not just to help others but to prove my Tou-san wrong that I can be strong."

Kenta smirked, "Well if that's the road you want to go down then I'll help you. I was just letting you see what options are available before we began your physical training and started teaching you the basics. That's how my sensei taught me, by starting from the bottom making sure I was ready. But if you're dead set on Iryō Ninjutsu then I don't see why we couldn't take a look-see and let you have a small look at what it involves."

Nodding enthusiastically Sayaka kept reading the scroll with excitement looking over just what the Jutsu involved. It was a listed as a simple healing technique a C-rank medical Jutsu for beginners to learn, teaching them how to gather and convert chakra into medical chakra for healing. It was perfect Jutsu for her to start with.

Sayaka found it somewhat difficult to do at first, but after an hour of reading and practising the three necessary hand signs as well as gathering and converting her chakra she finally was able to do it as the chakra gathered into a small white orb in her hand and she looked at it full of pride as she let it fade.

"Right, time to practice I suppose." she said as she took the kunai Itachi had given her and was about to cut her hand to practice healing when Kenta grabbed her hand stopping her. Sayaka looked at him in confusion, "What are you doing? I need to practice."

Kenta smirked, "Then why not use me then," he said before pointing to the healing slash on his chin, "No sense in creating new wounds when there's still old one's that need healing. So what do you say, want to try me as your first patient?"

Sayaka looked at him with some shock but then smiled, if she was able to heal him it would make her feel a bit better for him getting hurt while defending her the other week. She nodded, "Sure thanks for this." she said moving to his side as he tilted his head slightly letting her get better access to the underside of his chin.

Taking a deep breath Sayaka exhaled as she raised her hands making the hand signs "Rat → Ram → Dog" and started channelling her chakra as she converted it making the small white orb. She then raised her hands and chakra to the closed over wound and she repeated the scrolls process in her head, _'Control the chakra, maintain the flow, just a little not a lot'_ she said over and over again in her head as she pushed the medical chakra into the wound remembering what the scroll had said about control and consistency. She had to control the speed of which the charka was flowing and maintain it at a slow pace so the wound would heal at a slow constant rate so as not to scar over, too fast and it would scar over and she wanted to get it perfect. However since this is her first time using the Jutsu or any Jutsu for that matter and she didn't have the best control either, so she put too much into it as the wound closed up fast leaving a rather noticeable jagged scar on his chin.

Sayaka cancelled the Jutsu and lowered her hands and frowned seeing the scar. She flinched as Kenta pulled a kunai and tilted it to used it as a make shift mirror to see his chin. She'd expected him to yell at her for not doing it right and leaving him with the scar, so she was shocked when he smirked.

"Alright, nice scar, this makes me look like a real bad ass now. Talk about sweet." Kenta said running his finger over his scar smirking.

Sayaka frowned, "But it wasn't meant to leave a scar, I didn't do it right." she said looking down in failure.

Kenta put the kunai away and put his hand on her shoulder, "Hey enough of that. So what about a little scar, it was your first attempt you can't hope to get it first try. I'm betting not even Tsunade Senju of the Sannin, the creator of Iryō Ninjutsu got it right on the first try. Plus Jiji said this would scar anyway so it's no big deal." he said trying to cheer her up.

Sayaka looked at him with a slight smile, "Really, I was just trying to help you since you helped me. Are you still ok with this?"

Kenta smirked, "Relax, there's no need to get stressed, I'm just glad I could help. I'm sure you'll get it eventually; it was a C-rank Jutsu after all. Most academy students don't even learn them until they're Genin and neither of us are in the academy yet. All you need is practice and you'll get it down in no time." he said reassuring her as she started to smile again at his kind words.

Kenta lifted the scroll and read it before closing it up, "Right I think we should start by making sure you've got the academy basic Jutsu down before we go back to any medical Jutsu, so that your control will be much better and it will be easier for you when you do learn it."

Sayaka nodded hearing his reasoning, now she had felt stupid expecting to get it right on the first go. It was a C-rank after all and she'd seen how hard Sasuke had been practicing the **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)** under their Tou-sans watch at the lake. It was the rite of passage for all Uchiha who would be shinobi; she had wanted to learn it as well but knew her Tou-san would never let her. Sasuke had been practising it for weeks to get it right and he still got burnt when he used it and it was the same rank as the medical Jutsu, she knew it would take time for her to get it right but she wouldn't give up. Looking to Kenta with a new found passion she smiled, "Where do we begin?"

Kenta seeing her passion couldn't help but smirk, "Well first things first, your physical tor... I mean physical conditioning." he said with a grin that made Sayaka gulp slightly as she remembered him telling her about his sensei being a bit of a sadist and at that moment was slightly worried that it might have rubbed off on him… she was about to find out just how right she was.

* * *

 **Flashback end**

Coming out of his thoughts Kenta brought up his arm to block a straight right from Anko who was smirking at him. "Keep yourself sharp Gaki." Anko chuckled only to gasp as Kenta quickly moved swerving his arm around hers and gripped her forearm and pulled her forward flipping her over him as he swooped under her, using her momentum against her.

"I'm always sharp Anko, try to remember that." Kenta retorted before he jumped up into the air dodging a low leg sweep from Anko as she righted herself in mid-air and landed on the ground.

"Oh I do, but even the sharpest blade can chip." Anko smirked back as she brought her arms together and blocked a high kick that Kenta sent her way mid jump, the force of it knocked Anko back a bit but using the momentum swung herself around and went to kick Kenta who was still in the air.

Kenta saw the kick coming and smirked, she had left herself open. Reacting quickly to the kick Kenta caught it in the air as it brought him to the ground. But he used the chakra in his legs to stop himself while still holding onto Anko's leg before moving faster than the snake charmer could react to and delivered several quick jabs up the inside of Anko's inner left thigh while holding her right leg. The second he did Anko's left knee caved and she dropped to the ground with a thud, motor control in her left leg completely gone leaving her defenceless on the ground as Kenta froze standing over her his fist in position to deliver a final strike with a smirk on his face, "Perhaps Anko, but not today."

Before Anko could respond Hiruzen stood up from his seat clearing his throat, "That's enough. Victory goes to Kenta." he called with a pleased smile on his face, seeing his student progress so fast.

Hearing his Sensei's command, Kenta relaxed his stance and stood normally before delivering a quick series of non-painful jabs to Anko's thigh as it tensed before relaxing again as Anko felt her motor functions return to her.

"Damn it Gaki, you got me good that time. Just nine months with that Taijutsu of yours and you're already at the top of your game. Whatever Gai is doing with you during his time is paying off." the now nineteen-year-old Anko smirked as she got up.

"Thanks for that Anko, but we both know that you'd have me beat easily in a real fight when you can use your snakes in conjunction with your Taijutsu. I still have a long way to go yet" Kenta said as turned and put his right fist in his left palm and bowed in Hiruzen's direction getting a raised hand as a gesture to relax from his sensei.

"Always so humble Kenta," Hiruzen said as he walked over to the pair, "that is a good thing, arrogance and overconfidence in one's skill can lead to your downfall. However do not doubt yourself, for someone of your age defeating a Tokubetsu Jōnin like Anko here in a Taijutsu only spar is something to be proud of."

"Arigato sensei," Kenta said bowing again, "but I would never have become this strong without both yours and Gai-san's assistance and teachings. It is because of you three that I am as strong as I am."

Hiruzen shook his head, "Our lessons would have meant little to nothing it if weren't for your striving Kenta. It's your will of fire that burns for greatness my young pupil."

Kenta smiled hearing his sensei's praise before bowing once more, "Arigato sensei."

Hiruzen nodded in response before taking another pull of smoke from his pipe and exhaling, "I think that will be enough sparring for today, there is another subject I was hoping to introduce you to in line with your training." Hiruzen said before looking to Anko, "Anko you may return to your duties or take the rest of the day off if you wish."

Anko bowed to Hiruzen, "Hai, Hokage-Sama." She said before looking to Kenta, "See ya later Gaki." She said before disappearing in a Shunshin with a knowing smirk.

Kenta's eyebrow twitched in annoyance before looking to Hiruzen, "You've still got to show me how to do that." he said with a somewhat irritated tone, Anko had been reluctant to teach the Shunshin to Kenta due to him being so eager to learn it and used it to taunt him constantly.

Hiruzen chuckled, "In due time Kenta." he said before turning and gestured for Kenta to come to him before placing his hand on Kenta's shoulder before the pair disappeared into a Shunshin of Hiruzens own.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Arriving in the Hokage's office via Shunshin, Kenta had to keep himself from falling flat on his face at the sudden chance to his equilibrium, moving at such speeds was something he'd have to get used to.

After getting his footing back he looked to the sofas at the back of the room to find six of his Kage Bunshins sitting on them patiently with a stack of scrolls to the left of both sofas, showing they were finished reading them.

With a nod of his head, Kenta released the Jutsu and all six Bunshins went up in puffs of smoke as Kenta then closed his eyes as he felt the chakra and memories come to him and he filtered through the new information that flooded his brain after the Bunshins had taken to reading the scrolls Hiruzen had left for them which contained the history of the Konoha and that of the shinobi wars and other nations, along with multiple battle strategy guides and methodologies, the beginners guide to shogi and the complete fundamentals of Jutsu and its three parts Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu.

Rubbing his head at the sudden influx of information Kenta groans slightly from the now growing migraine as Hiruzen chuckles as he pours the tea he had brewing getting Kenta's attention as he smelled the scent, Genmaichatea, it was Kenta's favourite for its almost popcorn like taste.

Handing Kenta the cup Hiruzen smiled, "You've come a long way in such a short time Kenta and it's only been a year so far. Your growth sometimes is quite scary when I imagine what strength you will hold when you are older, at this rate you will no doubt surpass myself."

Taking a sip of the tea Kenta smiled, "It's all because of the teachings from you, Anko, and Gai Sarutobi-sensei. I wouldn't be this strong if it weren't for the three of you training me."

Hiruzen nodded with a slight smile, "You give us too much credit Kenta." He said before sitting down and gesturing for Kenta to do the same, "Tomorrow I intend to start teaching you a new subject of sorts, one that I believe will benefit you greatly and that you should be able to take to with ease." Hiruzen said with a confident smile.

With a confident and intrigued look of his own Kenta grinned at the prospect of learning something new, "What will I be studying Sarutobi-sensei?"

Hiruzen grinned, "Tell me Kenta, have you ever hear of the term Fūinjutsu? Or more specifically the art of sealing and making seals?"

Kenta looked at him with some curiosity remembering what he'd read so far and slowly nodded, "The art that was practised by the Yondaime Hokage and is practised by the Gama Sennin Jiraiya, one of your other students and one of the Sannin, who is currently the only seal master in the village."

Hiruzen nodded, "I see you remember your studies." Hiruzen smirked, "Yes the very same, although Fūinjutsu is much more than just sealing objects away, there is a whole other side to it that the world has forgotten over time due to the lack of those learning it and because of this most take this forgotten art for granted." Hiruzen finished taking a sip of his tea, "Which is why I was hoping you would take it and make it part of your arsenal. As my student I will be able to help you get started, though I am not a master myself I do know the art to some extent and there are detailed scrolls to help you where I cannot. Also when Jiraiya-kun eventually returns he will be able to help you progress further, I'm sure he'd love to help his kohai."

Kenta started to think and nodded more and more as a grin grew on his face as Hiruzen kept talking, "If it's as powerful as you say it is Sarutobi-sensei, then I will gladly learn it and become a master like Jiraiya-Senpai." Kenta said before chuckling at a thought, "If it's as rarely used as you say, I might even consider taking it on as a family secret and then me and my brother could start our own clan one of these days, ha-ha-ha." Kenta said laughing slightly at the idea

Hiruzen laughed with him at the idea, "Yes wouldn't that be something." he said aloud while thinking, _'If only you knew your origins but sadly I can't tell you maybe someday though I will, but this is all I can do to set you on the path for now.'_

* * *

 **Scene break**

After finishing the tea Kenta had bid his sensei good evening and left for home to see Naruto. Getting to his apartment Kenta opened the door and came in yawning after the tiring day. Slipping off his shinobi boots and taking off his flak jacket he hung it up before making his way into Naruto's apartment via the joining door, walking past five other of his Bunshins who were sitting meditating on his bed waiting to be dispelled.

Opening the door into his brother's apartment he glanced to the kitchen seeing the sixth Bunshin already cooking their dinner as Naruto lay on his bed with his "Prank Book" out as he wrote in it furiously.

Kenta chuckled, "Evening Otōto, I see you're hard at work." he said letting Naruto know he was back.

Naruto turned to look at him so fast Kenta was sure he almost snapped his neck, "Nii-chan!" he called before getting up and rushing over to his older sibling who held out his arms for the hug he knew was coming as they greeted each other.

Because of Kenta's training he was now a good three inches taller in height compared to Naruto, though Naruto was still growing and was eating correctly which Kenta was making sure of, knowing his Otōto would eat nothing but ramen for breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert, along with every meal time in between if he didn't. Granted the same could be said of Kenta when it came to Dango and Pocky mainly thanks to the two main women in his life getting him hooked bringing food to their training sessions.

Rustling Naruto's hair Kenta then looked to his Bunshin and nodded as it poofed from existence making Kenta grin from his new memories of his Bunshin's day with Naruto.

Kenta laughed slightly, "I see we've had fun today, an extra-strength stink bomb in the marketplace? Really funny but you can do better than that." Kenta said as he shook his head at Naruto's antics, his Bunshin had helped plant several of the rather foul canisters around the large market area and then both had hid using the **Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique)** and watched the ensuing chaos as they were set off as people ran from the stench as the area was abandoned for two hours until the smell had dissipated.

Naruto grinned at his brother's approval, "Oh I know. I've got a bunch of other ideas planned for tomorrow and some really big ones as well that I know you'll love!" Naruto said with an excited grin.

Kenta laughed and shook his head, "I can't wait, just make sure you and my Bunshin don't get caught or seen. The last thing I need is Sarutobi-sensei giving me grief for whatever you've got planned." he said with a smirk.

Naruto stepped back in mock hurt with a look of veined shock, "I'm offended you'd even think such a thing. When do I ever get caught?" Naruto stated in mock hurt with pride of his stealth skills which had only increased in the last nine months after Kenta had helped him get the **Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique)** down to an art form, he could do is so well.

Kenta crossed his arms with a raised eyebrow and smirk, "Would you like that list in alphabetical or chronological order?" he asked with a growing chuckle as Naruto's head sunk pride now gone at Kenta reminding him of the hundreds of times he was caught before learning that technique.

"I meant in the past nine months Nii-chan." Naruto pouted making Kenta ruffle his hair again in apology.

"Sorry Otōto couldn't resist. Why don't you start dishing supper out while I go and deal with my Bunshins?" Kenta said with a smile

Naruto instantly cheered up, "Sure Nii-chan, you're still going to teach me how to do that Bunshin thing right?"

Kenta chuckled, "Of course Otōto what kind of Nii-chan would I be if I didn't help my Otōto." he laughed, "But only when we're in the last year of the academy, as much as I'd love to teach it to you now I don't think the villagers or Sarutobi-sensei would thank me for releasing a horde of pranking blonds on the village. With the chaos just one of you can cause, imagine what a hundred of you would be able to do." Kenta explained only for both him and Naruto to shiver with excitement and slight pity for the villagers in the following months after Naruto learns that Jutsu.

Kenta turned to go back into his apartment leaving Naruto chuckling evilly with a wicked look in his eye, already scheming for his future pranking spree.

Coming into his room he looked to his Bunshins and sighed before cancelling the Jutsu instantly regretting it as he gripped his head in pain, _'Ow, ow, ow, ow, major headache'_ Kenta thought as he felt like his head was going to explode.

After three minutes Kenta finally felt the pain subside and sighed, _'Well that was a pain as always, but at least I got a few Jutsu memorised out of it, I'll practice them tomorrow after lessons with sensei, but for now…_ ' Kenta thought as he opened his bedside table taking out a small box and opening it and taking out a chocolate covered biscuit stick licking his lips, "Ah Pocky how I've waited for thee."

* * *

 **Scene break**

The sun shines in Kenta's bedroom window the next morning just as his alarm goes off, Kenta sits up with a groan and starts to get ready for the day.

Getting out of bed the covers fall over him showing he was only wearing his loose long legged pyjama bottoms leaving his chest bare showing his well refined form from all his training with only some light scars on him from when he was just starting training, the most noticeable one being that of a scar on his right shoulder area it was wider than the others a stab wound that had healed and was one of the few he didn't get from training.

After going through his normal morning routine of getting ready for the day, he finished getting washed and dressed before forming the signature cross hand sign before calling out, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"** as three Bunshins were created in front of him standing to attention awaiting orders.

Looking to the first Bunshin Kenta began to give out their orders for the day. "You're on study duty. Create four other Bunshins once I'm gone and then pull four scrolls each from our last library visit and get to reading." Kenta said before looking to the second Bunshin, "You are on practical go to the practice area and make six Bunshin each and pick a separate Jutsu and have them make 25 Bunshins each and get to work practicing the five Jutsu we memories yesterday and have the sixth group practice running through hand signs I need to be able to do them faster until I have them mastered so I can use Jutsu without them, dispel the third and second sets of Bunshins to your selves every hour and repeat the process until I arrive after lessons with Sarutobi-sensei." and then finally the third, "You're on Naruto-duty, keep him out of trouble and make him his meals. No more than five bowls of ramen at lunch, I swear that boy would live off it if he could and make sure he eats at least one vegetable ramen."

Getting three "Hai." from the Bunshins he dismissed them to start one Bunshin going into Naruto's apartment to start breakfast, another going to start on the scrolls and the third walked out to go to the training field, Kenta was about to leave also when the practical Bunshin came back in holding two parcels, "These were on the doorstep Taichou." the Bunshin said handing the parcels to him.

Looking at them with some curiosity and some scrutiny not sure if it was safe to open them before he saw to the paper pinned to them "Try to keep warm out there- Jiji." Kenta smirked _'Sarutobi-sensei'._

Setting the parcels down on the bed he opened the one addressed to him and grinned seeing its contents, a Jet-black flak jacket like the one he had, but with a black hood and short sleeves with red fur lining around the hood and the sleeves. The back had a red circle with a white swirl in it, like the Chūnin and Jōnin flak jackets he'd seen.

Kenta immediately took off his older flak jacket and pulled on the newer one and zipped it up pulling the hood over his head, liking the fur lining, _'Thanks Jiji.'_

Opening the other package Kenta cringed slightly as he saw the contents, a neon orange tracksuit with white woollen neck collar and blue detailing, with a similar swirl emblem on the right shoulder. Kenta chuckled, _'Well he did say orange was his favourite colour I'm sure he'll love it, although I'm definitely taking him to get a new outfit when we're Genin. For a shinobi this just screams "I'm here kill me now."'_ Kenta thought as he lay the tracksuit down on the bed with the note and went to walk out, but not before grabbing a box of Pocky for the morning warm up session.

* * *

 **Scene break- Hokage office**

Hiruzen was sitting comfortably in his office while four Kage- Bunshins worked around his desk on the piles of paperwork as the original put his feet up and was giggling slight reading a little orange book.

Feeling the rush of morning air from a newly opened window Hiruzen closed the book and slipped it back into his robes before looking to the window to see the panting form of Kenta trying to catch his breath.

Hiruzen smiled seeing him, "Ah Kenta, how was your morning run?" he asked as Kenta sat on the window ledge

"Enjoyable…. as…. always." Kenta replied panting heavily, "Please give me a moment… twenty laps of the village can take it out of you."

Hiruzen chuckled, "You certainly have taken to Gai's workout routine with a passion. Not many can keep up with him. Come sit down and have some tea while you begin this morning lessons, basics of Fūinjutsu, body seals."

Taking a final pant Kenta pushed off the window ledge into the office, "I may be able to keep up, but I still say he's insane doing twenty laps on his hands, I stopped after three and did the rest on my feet." Kenta said before sitting down and seeing the open scroll on the table and after reading the first few lines he began growing more and more interested by the second.

Seeing the interest in Kenta's eye Hiruzen chuckled to himself as he poured their tea, _'Hook, line and sinker.'_

* * *

 **Five hours later**

After reading the first scroll three times over, Kenta had created four more Kage Bunshins, each of which were sitting on the floor reading through other scrolls with note pads beside them as they noted down anything of interest that they found in them, each already with two filled pads each behind them stacked in a pile.

The original sat between another four Bunshins on the other side of the room with an ink brush in hand as he and his double gangers practiced calligraphy and had been for the past four hours getting every stroke perfectly in place for when they would begin the physical practice sessions as his sensei had told him that perfect calligraphy is the first step in becoming a Fūinjutsu master as it's a major part of the style. It helped that Kenta's handwriting was already near perfect.

Standing over the practicing Bunshins and Kenta, Hiruzen nodded seeing their progress as he blew out smoke from his pipe before speaking, "That's enough my boy, disperse your practicing Bunshins before doing the same with the researching group and well see what you've come up with."

Kenta nodded before closing his eyes as the two groups went up in smoke making Kenta wince slightly from the hit of information as he began to sort through it, after several moments of which he opened his eyes with a shocked look, "That could be useful." he said allow remembering one of the ideas his Bunshins had from moments before dispelling.

The sudden interest caught Hiruzen's attention, "What would that be my boy?" he asked wondering, what had intrigued Kenta so much.

Using his Bunshins memories Kenta went over to the scrolls and pads and began to look through them to find the passage and notes his Bunshin had made on them before smirking as he found them and lay them out in front of his sensei, "Weight, restriction, and gravity seals or more specifically their uses in training the bodies muscles."

Looking at the boy in slight shock Hiruzen then began to browse the very detailed notes the Bunshin had made. Originally shinobi had used chakra weights to train, though not many used them anymore as they were considered almost to be medieval due to the strain they put on the body. Hiruzen knew of only one shinobi: Gai, who still used them in his training and the results were nothing to laugh at and it would appear the weight seals could be used in a similar fashion to the physical weights where chakra was pumped into them to increase the weight.

Then there were the gravity and restriction seals both were something Hiruzen had never even contemplated on using for training. They had been created solely for the prison system and applied to only the most dangerous of prisoners in order to slow them down and make it impossible for them to even attempt an escape. When activated fully the prisoner was forced to the ground by the gravity seal increasing the gravity field around his body and the restriction seals made it impossible for them to even lift a finger. But on their lower levels Hiruzen could see the potential Kenta saw in them for advancing his physical training.

Nodding as he reviewed the idea Hiruzen smiled, "This is quite an ingenious use you have found for these seals Kenta, rather dangerous in some ways, but also very creative." Hiruzen said as he lifted the scroll making a more detailed examination of the arrays, "I assume you want to use this in your physical training from now on?" Hiruzen asked seeing they weren't that complicated that he'd be able to apply them without calling back Jiraiya to do them.

Kenta nodded in response, "Hai sensei, they'd be a method of continuous training even when I'm not in practice. I'd still be wearing them and even a short walk would be beneficial with them on."

Hiruzen nodded, "Very well then, I'll apply them to you." Hiruzen said as he stood up and took out the jar of chakra ink from the box he'd prepared for Kenta's training and popped the top, "Remove your top and roll up the bottom of your trouser legs, the weight seals will be on each limb and one on your chest while the restriction and gravity seals will be on your back." Hiruzen informed him as Kenta followed his sensei's instructions and removed his clothing rolling up his trouser legs after allowing Hiruzen access to apply the seals. "While I am doing this, I want you to begin reciting the key aspects of seals and Fūinjutsu, their purposes and uses in a battle." Hiruzen ordered as he started on Kenta's right wrist.

* * *

 **Two hours later**

After the long wait Hiruzen was finally finished applying the seals to Kenta's body. The weight seals were intricate bands around his wrists and ankles with a small space left between two spiral rings where Hiruzen said a number would appear in regards to how much weight was applies to each which varied on the amount of chakra put into them, there was a much larger version applied around Kenta's waist area positioned in a way so as not to interfere with the gravity and restriction seals on his back, both of which were in the shape of multiple sided shapes, the gravity taking the form of a large hexagonal ring with the number zero in the centre and the restriction taking the form of an octagonal ring with the same zero in the centre, both number registering what level the seal was set to at that moment.

After standing still for so long Kenta began to flex his shoulders as Hiruzen came around the front of him, "There all finished, they should work without a problem, all you have to do is focus your chakra into your back area and call out your seal and then the level you wish to have the seal set to. Why don't you try it out for now, but don't go beyond level one for the moment, I have some idea on how to work with them to get the most out of your training."

Kenta nodded as he raised his hands into a ram sign and began to channel chakra into the seals on his back, "Gravity and restriction seals, level one." he spoke and his eyes instantly widened as he felt his body get heavy and he had to put some serious effort into moving, "Damn this stuff really works." Kenta said in a slightly strained voice.

Hiruzen nodded, "I think it would be best to cancel them for now while we work with your weight seals," Hiruzen informed him, "simply deactivated them as you would any Jutsu."

Kenta nodded as he channelled chakra again and called out, "Kai." as he felt the pressure lifted off him and made it easier to move as he flexed his shoulders from the strain.

Hiruzen nodded, "Very good now, the weights will be slightly more tricky I think. Kenta I want you to channel the smallest amount of chakra you can into your right wrist seal and then tap the seal with your other hand to activate it."

Kenta nodded and looked to his right wrist and he began to channel his chakra as Hiruzen watched him move to tap it, before Kenta regretted doing so as the seal flashed and Kenta found himself being pulled by his wrist and slammed to the ground by the sudden weight increase.

"OW what the hell!" Kenta yelled in pain from hitting the ground.

Hiruzen stifled a chuckle at his students mishap before shaking his head, "I was afraid of this, it would seem that your extreme chakra reserves are affecting your chakra control greatly and you put too much chakra into the seals and its affecting just how much weight they act as, take a look at the number."

Kenta looked to the seal on his wrist and his eyes widened seeing a five thousand (lbs.) in the space. Kenta frowned, "Does this mean the weights are useless to me?" he asked with some disappointment.

Hiruzen shook his head, "No it doesn't, it just means that I will have to apply the chakra to the seal until you have enough control to do it yourself and it also means you will have to drastically increase your chakra control lessons to this extent." he said as he came over and tapped the seal releasing the chakra stored in it and channelled his own into them as the five thousand changed to fifteen as Kenta got to his feet once again as Hiruzen went about applying the same fifteen to each of Kenta's limbs and then a forty to his waist, "There we go, that should be enough to improve your training for now." Hiruzen said as he went to behind his desk, "Kenta I want you to train with those weights for now only. Once you've trained to the extent you can no longer feel the strain I want you to activate the first level of your restriction seal and repeat the process as you slowly increase the restriction level each time you no longer feel the weights. Only once you've reached level five on the restriction seal will you deactivate before activating the gravity seals first level and repeat the restriction seal cycle as you progress up the levels of gravity like you did the restriction seal, once its level five has been reached you will deactivate the both seals and increase the weights until you can feel the once more and the process will repeat, this will be how you will train your body from now on, any questions?"

Kenta understood the training regimen perfectly he had similar ideas and understood why Hiruzen didn't want him going beyond level five, because each time the effects doubled and going beyond level five on ether seal could affect his growth at his age. "Hai sensei I understand, and I would like to ask if you knew of any additional chakra control methods I could use to improve my control for the future."

Pausing for a moment Hiruzen stoked his beard as a smile came to him, "I think I have just the method that you're looking for Kenta." he said getting up and going to the bookshelves again taking out a scroll that looked like a Iryō Ninjutsu scroll, before handing it to Kenta, "This is a method developed years ago for Iryō-ninjas both an advanced level of chakra control and as a way to create large chakra reserved to allow the Iryō-nin to treat more injuries, though I know of only one person who still uses it, that person being my second student Tsunade Senju, if you can master this technique then you'll chakra control will increase dramatically."

Kenta smiled looking at the scroll thinking of another that he could help with this scroll, "Arigato sensei, this will help a lot."

Hiruzen nodded, "It's not a problem Kenta, this is what sensei's are for. Now I believe that is enough for today, go an enjoy the rest of your day I'm sure you've had your Bunshins working overtime while you were here, so you'd better see to them."

Kenta chuckled while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Hai, arigato sensei." Kenta said before smirking and weaved the Tiger hand sign before disappearing into a whirlwind of red and black feathers as the window closed behind him as he left.

Hiruzen just blinked at his sudden disappearance and then chuckled, _'So he learned the_ _ **Shunshin no Jutsu**_ _on his own then and even personally modified it, that boy continues to amaze me.'_ He thought to himself before going back to reading a certain little orange book.

* * *

 **Scene break**

 **Training ground forty-three**

Arriving in the training ground via Shunshin Kenta smirked seeing his Bunshins all lying across the area tuckered out from training completely exhausted. Kenta walked into the area before calling out his command, "Alright, recall to me in order of creation." he commanded getting sighs of relief from each Bunshin as they dispersed in waves leaving only himself and the one he had created that morning as it sorted the memories for him before dispersing giving them and the left over chakra to him making Kenta grin, "That's definitely a better way of doing things, no headache." he said aloud as he slotted the chakra control scroll into a loop on his flak jacket before looking towards one of the wooden post that had been created for target practice.

 _'Time to test what I've learned'_ Kenta thought to himself before flashing through a series of hand signs as he sprinted at the middle stump making a series of hand signs and thought, **_'Suiton: Suishōjin' (water release: water palm blade)_** as he channelled his chakra into his right hand as he began to change the chakra into water and solidify it into a blade shape as he ran before channelling his chakra into his legs launching himself forward at the target post and with a slash cut the thick post in two with a horizontal slash as he sent the top half into the air as he landed, but not before turning on his heels as he weaved through a set of single hand signs changing the water blade and made it flow fluidly as Kenta thrust his hand at the top half of the post, **_'Suiton: Suiben' (water release: water whip)_** he called out as the water flowed and lengthened creating a whip extending from his hand and ensnaring the top half of the post as he whipped it higher into the air before the water fell apart and hit the ground.

Taking a deep breath Kenta continued the attack, **_'Fūton: Renkūdan' (wind release: drilling air bullet)_** he yelled seeing a compressed blast of air out of his mouth aimed for the wooded half in the air before it hit and slit the log down the middle as it separated into five chunks as Kenta flashed through his final series of hand signs "Tiger → Snake → Tiger → Bird → Tiger → Ram → Tiger" and narrowed his eyes on his targets before calling the final attack, **"Raiton: Sandāboruto" (lightning release: thunder bolt)** ,in an explosion of chakra from Kenta the air filled with sparks of electricity before Kenta thrust his hand in the direction of the still air born pieces as an arc of lighting shot from his hand at the wood and hit the first before it jumped from one to the other in a ring of lighting as all five burst into flames and turning to ash before they hit the ground.

Taking a breath Kenta lowered his hand having just run through four Jutsu all of which were elemental releases as he felt the drain on his chakra after the adrenalin started to slow.

"Now that's more like it." Kenta said aloud feeling pleased with himself at learning such high level techniques, _'This is the kind of power I need to be able to protect my friends and to be worthy of being called student of the Hokage.',_ Kenta thought to himself before looking to the scroll Hiruzen had given him on the advances chakra control technique, _'But I still have a long way to go'_ he thought before forming the cross sign, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"** he called out as fifty Bunshins poofed into existence in front of him, "Alright, each of you find a tree or space of water at the river side and start chakra control lessons, I want my control improved ASAP got it."

With a loud yell of "Hai, Taichou." from the clones before the divided up into groups for the training, Kenta dropped to a lotus sitting position as he took out the scroll and started reading.

Unbeknownst to Kenta a figure in black with a white mask with the kanji for Ne was hidden in the shadows of one of the trees sat watching recording everything on a scroll for his report back to his master on the Uzumaki's strength, he was about to move closer to see what the scroll was he was starting to read but froze sensing something in the area, but before he could react a Ninjatō was shoved through his chest where his heart would have been and the figure spluttered blood through the small slot in his white mask before dropping from the trees into the bushes below as a pair of ANBU Shunshined beside him one with a weasel mask with black hair holding the Ninjatō that had made the kill, evident from the still fresh blood on the blade. The other with a still sheathed katana on her back wearing a cat mask and had long purple hair.

"Neko, report to Hokage-Sama of this encounter and inform him I will take the body to T&I, perhaps Inoichi will be able to get something from this one." the weasel masked ANBU ordered

The cat ANBU nodded, "Hai Taichou." she said before glancing at the dead spy, and then to Kenta who hadn't noticed them "What do you think they want with Uzumaki-san, I understand Hokage-sama's concerns but I don't see why that old war hawk would take such an interest this early on."

The weasel masked ANBU shook his head as he lifted the scroll the spy had been documenting and glanced over its contents, "It would appear they are doing recon at this point gauging his strength. It would appear he is a possible target for recruitment that they have an eye on." he said before putting the scroll in a loop for evidence later, "Given the strength he just displayed and his age, it's not surprizing." he finished lifting the body over his shoulder as they disappeared into Shunshins.

Kenta blinked and looked around for a second before looking in the direction of the trees for a few seconds, _'I could have sworn I sensed something',_ Kenta thought before shrugging his shoulders and taking out a Pocky stick before going back to reading the scroll, _'Must have just been my imagination'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, guys, it's been a while but it's finally time for another update, given that I've finally got chapter 6 for this finished and on the reserve pile, I will be starting chapter 7 soon so I'll have the next chapter up in the next two weeks or sooner, hopefully.**

 **The reviews seem to be picking up for this fiction which is a good thing, I was worried not many would like it but it's nice to see a good few taking an interest as its different in many ways from my other Naruto fictions that I've done.**

 **On a quick note I'd just like to mention a review that was given, a question:**

 **"Is Naruto even in this story?"**

 **Well as we've all seen he is in the story just not to a major extent, for the most part, we all know how the story goes for Naruto, as my usual approach to a Naruto fiction is to stick with Naruto and the cannon storyline, I'm trying to go away from that and the brother angle seems to be the best, allowing to change Naruto's life for the better and have different dreams and goals than Naruto does, so it will be following his life for the most part showing how his part in the world has changed things for the better for not just Naruto but everyone else, so in short Naruto will be in it but will not be the fictions main focus**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **12 months later**

It was early morning and a now twelve-year-old Kenta was sitting at his desk inside his apartment looking over the uncountable number of papers on his desk all with detailed notes and diagrams and Fūinjutsu arrays, on top of them was an open scroll that Kenta was scanning down his eyes focused with a purpose.

As he read suddenly the sound of his alarm clock went off which was sitting on the corner of his desk within arm's reach of Kenta, who continued to read for a few seconds before tapping it to turn the alarm off.

Rubbing his eyes wearily Kenta pushed back from his desk and stood up, he had grown a few more inches in the past year of training now standing tall at five feet one inch. He stretches out his arms above his head, yawning; having awoken a few hours earlier and decided to do some work rather than sleep.

Closing the scroll and gathering up the papers he put them into the desk's side drawers which had an intricate Fūinjutsu array on the inside and a second one on the outside as he closed the drawer and activated the protection and blood seal to keep his notes safe.

Turning he walked a few feet before turning and leaning down to a third array on the floor circling his desk and touched is as it activated the security array for his desk. The seals he had applied himself over the year he had been learning Fūinjutsu and served to protect his work. He had taken to Fūinjutsu with a passion and learned it with ease and even went as far to teach Naruto how to make storage scrolls and smoke tags for his pranks, since he had decided to give Naruto some light training a few months back.

Naruto had been ecstatic that he could begin training and Kenta had been more than happy to teach his Otōto some things, though Naruto had been less than ecstatic when Kenta began his tor… training by means of dodging Senbon needless while running from his Nii-chan who seemed to be laughing the whole time. But the training had helped him somewhat and he'd learned to channel his chakra, which he had in metric shit tonnes. Kenta had begun his Otōto's chakra control lessons to the extent of leaf balancing and tree walking, though Naruto was struggling with both of them. Kenta refused to teach him any Jutsu until he got his chakra control to a respectable level, though that hadn't stopped him progressing in the non-chakra required areas such as Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu.

Already being semi dressed in his ANBU pants and a somewhat different open top black shirt, the collar going past his collar bone showing the five diamond markings along it which had been the extent of his advanced chakra training.

* * *

 **Flashback twelve months ago**

Reading through the scroll Kenta was interested in what he was seeing, the method required picking an area of the body to focus chakra in and building the chakra up there while compressing it as small as they could through the use of chakra ink to help start the process along.

Reading that most performed this technique by storing it behind their foreheads, Kenta not being one to follow fads opted for some place different as he took out the ink he had and opened up his flak jacket and applied the mark to his collar bone while he started focusing his chakra.

Immediately the mark spread out to be the size of his fist and Kenta frowned, looking back to the scroll Kenta's eyes narrowed reading the notes, while the ink helps seal the chakra there it is mean for only that purpose and will expand to show the area where the chakra is affecting, the control training comes from focusing the chakra in order to make the mark as small as possible, no larger that half a centimetre.

Talking a meditative position Kenta calmed his mind and focused his chakra as best he could as the mark slowly started to shrink.

* * *

 **Flashback end**

It would be several more weeks until he got the mark to the required size, and over a period of five months he would add four more marks increasing the level of concentration required for channelling the chakra, each reserve being added to over the process of the remaining five months of Kenta putting in any leftover chakra at the end of the day from his already huge reserves meant the marks were filling up with abundance.

Grabbing the flak jacket he had for over a year Kenta pulled it on leaving it open as he buttoned up the shirt to cover over the markings, looking himself over in the mirror Kenta smirked as he looked at what two years hard training had turned him into.

His figure was well toned and evident by looking at his face, no baby fat what so ever was visible, his face was lean the look in his eyes was a serious one that still burned with a warm fire, the scar on his chin still prominent only making him look more hardened and battle born, same with his new hair style, the sides of his head had been shaven short and the top had been allowed to grow out longer though it was in a mullet/Mohawk style, but it was more shaggy and wild. Taking one last glance at himself he smirked as he grabbed his whip sword and attached it to his waist before moving to the joining door to Naruto's apartment.

Knocking on the door Kenta called out, "Otōto, come on it's time to get up. First day of the academy and all, don't want to miss out." He said as he started opening the door, "I've still got to go call in with Sarutobi-sensei. He said he wanted so talk to me so I'll see you there all right, don't be late." he said looking around the apartment only to get a grumbled response from the bed as the covers pulled over the blonde's head.

"Still tired Nii-chan." Naruto grumbled from below the covers, "Why can't the academy start at ten?"

Kenta's eye twitches slightly, "Because nine gives us plenty of time to sleep and get ready, so get your butt in gear before I start using my water whip to make you." Kenta threatened as he started going through the hand signs about to make good on his threat.

Hearing his older brother's words Naruto shot out of bed and into the bathroom yelling, "I'm up Onii-sama, please not again!" the water whip had been one of the Jutsu Kenta had used on Naruto in training and the blond hated it.

Kenta chuckled seeing Naruto move at a speed that would put most ANBU to shame as he turned and walked back into his own apartment, _'If only it was that easy to motivate him all the time'._

* * *

 **Scene break**

Hiruzen had just sat back in one of his sofas to enjoy a day of relaxing to rest his bones after a long early morning training session that he'd been doing almost every day as he was slowly getting himself back to his former strength, as three Kage Bunshins worked wearily behind his desk on the paperwork with no complaints.

As he was relaxing comfortably he felt a chakra signature approaching with speed, before the window opened and Kenta appeared in a red-feathered Shunshin with a smirk on his face.

"Morning Sarutobi-sensei." Kenta said with a smirk as he gave a small bow.

Smiling back Hiruzen nodded, "Good morning Kenta-Kun, I trust you're ready for your first day at the academy?" he asked giving his student a smile.

Kenta's grin widened, "Do you really need me to answer that sensei? I've been ready for the academy for twenty-one months now, you know that." he said with a huge grin.

Hiruzen chuckled, "Yes I suppose so, I already know you'll be, without a doubt, the strongest in your class. So I trust I don't need to tell you not to be causing trouble," he said giving Kenta a knowing look making the red head rub the back of his head sheepishly, "with your skills no other student and most likely the majority of the teachers couldn't hold a candle to you."

Kenta smirked, "I'd think that would be an understatement sensei. I believe Anko's words were, "I've got enough skill to make a Chūnin look like an academy cadet and enough chakra to make every Jōnin look like a Gaki crying for its mama's titty milk."" Kenta said as he tried his best not to laugh only to blink feeling an arm draped across his shoulder and something sharp poke his chin.

"Did I hear someone mention me?" came Anko's teasing tone, as she appeared arm draping across Kenta's shoulder and a kunai at his cheek with a teasing smirk on her face.

Kenta smirked, "Welcome back Anko, I trust your solo mission was enjoyable." he said calmly as if there wasn't a sharp implement ready to give him a piercing, "Also please remove the kunai, I'd hate to have to shove mine somewhere again." he said making Anko's eyes widen as she felt something sharp poke her backside.

Anko grinned, "It's getting harder and harder to sneak up on you gaki." she said taking away the Kunai and stepped back from him as he did the same, "Like the new hair by the way, very rugged looking. I wish I could see the Chūnin senseis when they realise just how much you could kick their Asses." Anko started with a grin only for Hiruzen to clear his throat getting both Anko and Kenta to look back to him, Anko rubbed her head sheepishly, "Sorry for the interruption Hokage-Sama." she said with a nervous chuckle.

Hiruzen sighed shaking his head before looking to Kenta again, "I assume you're still planning on hiding your real skills Kenta, as you planned until you graduate?", Hiruzen asked giving his student a knowing look.

Kenta shrugged, "I might cut loose on my knowledge from time to time and let my Taijutsu skills do my talking for me just to get them to realise I know enough, but I won't go overboard." Kenta explained as his eyes narrowed slightly as he started talking strategically, "As for my Ninjutsu I'm keeping them to myself as long as possible, I have already informed Naruto of this so he will remain quiet, and any offers to graduate early I plan on refusing. Rookie of the year is still my goal but I'm sticking with my Otōto, but I'll make sure he'll be capable of looking after himself. I'm not so foolish as to hope we'll be places on the same Genin team even with you as my sensei, and I won't ask you to do so. Teams are based on skills and chosen for the good of the village as a whole, so to ask for preferential treatment beyond what I've already been given would be selfish."

Hiruzen smiled proudly at his adoptive grandson and student, he'd grown up wise and understood how things worked better than most his age, "I'm glad to hear that Kenta-Kun, now I plan on helping you with the graduating early part and will keep those at bay who wish to do so with you, as I understand your reasons for doing so. I'm being lenient with you are my student so just don't go overboard and everything will be fine."

Kenta smirked, "Sure thing sensei, you've got nothing to worry about."

Hiruzen smiled back, "Glad to hear it, now you'd better get going before your late." he said with a small chuckle.

Kenta just shook his head at the Hokage's hidden joke, "Always the joker sensei, I'll see you both later." he said before disappearing into a whirlwind of crimson feathers.

Hiruzen chuckled; "I swear that boy…" he finished shaking his head in amusement.

Anko chuckled, "That's just the Gaki being a Gaki, no sense in worrying about him he can take care of himself." she said before giving a bow and disappearing in her own Shunshin as Hiruzen sighed.

"Yes, but that's what worries me." he said before shaking his head and taking out his little orange book to relax.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Arriving in the shadow of the trees on the academy grounds via a whirlwind Shunshin so as not to attract attention, Kenta looked up at the large building before starting to make his way to the main doors in a light jog.

Entering the building and following the room numbers and signs Kenta makes his way to his classroom he can already hear some commotion from inside, as he rounds the corner to enter the room he blinks seeing a crowd of students gathered at the front of the room where the commotion was as Kenta entered from the higher back end of the room looking down on the scene. Looking down into the crowd Kenta sighed, _'Class hasn't even started yet and you're already picking a fight'_ Kenta thought as he looked at whom the centre of attention was.

Naruto dressed in his orange and blue tracksuit was at odds with another boy. The other boy had black hair and was wearing a blue high collar shirt and white knee-length shorts and black shinobi sandals, and both he and Naruto were glaring at each other as they butted heads like rams.

Shaking his head as he came down the steps to the front, Kenta was debating whether or not to break up the fight, when a girl with bright coloured hair caught his eye, she was wearing a knee length qipao dress with knee length black skin tight shorts and had long bright pink hair that went down to the base of her back. Deciding to find out who the other boy was first Kenta leant on the desk behind her before speaking.

"What exactly is going on with those two?" Kenta asked in a curious tone trying to get information.

Not looking around still interested in the fight, the girl spoke, "Oh did you just come in?" she asked not looking still.

"Yea, I was a bit late in getting up, mind filling me in?" Kenta asked not wanting to give his actual reasoning due to him being the old man's student was still a secret with how people could see it as showing favouritism.

Believing his reasoning the girl continued, "Here's what happened, we all arrived earlier than we were asked but when that Blond-Baka arrived he was all loud with everyone boasting about how he was going to be the next Hokage to be able to beat his big brother. That's when Sasuke-Kun stepped in to put him in his place." the girl finished swooning slightly mentioning Sasuke.

Kenta blinked for a moment, _'Sasuke? Could that be…?'_ Kenta thought before speaking again, "You sound like you know this Sasuke well. So who exactly is he?"

The girl swooned again, "Oh he's Sasuke Uchiha, the last man of the Uchiha clan."

Hearing that confirmed Kenta's suspicions as he looked over the crowd at Sasuke and frowned sadly, _'I see so that's Sasuke, so that's him…'_ Kenta began to think as he remembered back several months to the morning after it all happened, the night of the Uchiha massacre.

* * *

 **Flashback- several months- the morning after Uchiha massacre**

Relaxing as he made his way down the streets after his shower after finishing his morning run, Kenta was making his way for his breakfast Dango at the bakery, one of the places in town that didn't overcharge him.

As he made his way there Kenta couldn't help but feel something was off about the village that morning, like something bad had happened. But he shook it off and continued to the Dango shop wanting to get one of the first batches of the day they were always the freshest. He might see Anko there for her morning fix of the good stuff.

After a few minutes of walking he reached the bakery and walked inside surprised to not see Anko there, but thought she was just running late or maybe already had her fix for the day, and so just continued on to his stool, and was about to call out to place his order when he heard two shinobi in the corner of the restaurant talking, they were Chūnin going by their uniforms and age, too young to be Jōnin and didn't look all that high up. But what they said shook Kenta to his core and made his heart skip a beat.

"I can't believe Itachi did that." the first Chūnin spoke looking a little shaken up.

"Yea I know." the second one replied as he shakily lit a cigarette to calm his nerves, "Can you imagine doing something like that?" he said before taking a drag, "Wiping out your entire clan in the middle of the night."

"Yea I guess you never can tell what some people are…" the first began again but Kenta didn't stop to hear the rest, that was all he needed to hear, before he ran out the door and jumped to the rooftops and took off like a bat out of hell heading for the Uchiha district as fast as he could.

 _'Kami please, it can't be true, no it can't'_ Kenta worried in his mind as he jumped from building to building almost breaking off tiles with the force of his jumps he was going so fast.

After several minutes that felt like hours of jumping he was so worried, Kenta finally landed on one of the rooftops just outside the Uchiha districts front gates and his eyes widened at the scene in front of him. A large crowd had gathered outside the main entrance, which was open wide for all to see, and the sight was enough to make Kenta sick to his stomach. Hundreds of tarpaulins scattered across the streets of the Uchiha compound, each white with some red stain on some part of the cloth from the blood of the fatal injuries.

His mouth agape unable to even comprehend what he was seeing he watched as two shinobi carried another body out onto the streets tarpaulin covering it. Using his chakra to enhance his senses like he had learned how to do, Kenta was able to make out what they were saying even from that distance away.

"Another one, how many others are like this one?", asked a Chūnin walking up to the pair as they set the body down.

"So far all of them," the first Chūnin replied, "each killed with precision, and then both eyes removed and likely destroyed."

"Damn bastard didn't leave us anything did he." the second Chūnin said as he lifted up the tarpaulin and Kenta felt like he was going to be sick seeing what was under it, a boy no older than he was had a throat slit and both his eyes gouged out leaving bloody crevasses where they had once been.

Turning away Kenta cringed his body shaking from the fear as his breath was shallow, before he took off with a new destination in mind, a pleading hope in the back of his mind, _'Please, please be there.'_

Jumping from rooftop to tree branch he headed for the area they had trained in for so long fear slowly creeping in on him, as it threatened to destroy him from within, but the second his feet hit the ground of the clearing by the river his eyes widened as the fear was banished in an instant when he saw her by the riverside.

She was curled up her head between her knees as her arms wrapped around them clutching them to her stomach, as the sounds of weeping could be heard as her entire body trembled.

Realising what was happening Kenta moved to go closer, but after a single step, he stopped when her head whipped around from where she was and the sight made Kenta's heart stop. Her eyes were red from crying, as tears continued to stream down her cheeks and he could see nothing but desperation in her bloodshot red eyes. Desperation, pleading that the night before hadn't been real. Then a thought crossed his mind, she'd been here all alone since it happened, scared and frightened, he mentally kicked himself for not being there and moved to her to give his friend some kind of comfort but before he could even get close, she was on top of him as they both fell backwards and Kenta hit the ground hard with her clutching to his chest for dear life.

Looking at her from his position Kenta felt his words die in the back of his throat, what could he say, what did anyone say in a situation like this?

He felt her tremble on his chest as she clung to him like he was the only thing in the world that was safe, like if she let go she would die. Kenta felt her tears on his neck as she cried into his shoulder. It was then he knew he had to say something. Wrapping his arms around her tightly he held her close to him, "It's alright, I'm here, you're safe now." he said hoping what even he said gave her some form of comfort. Whatever reason it was it worked as she burst into wailing sobs as she clung ever tighter to him crying into his chest and staining his shirt with her tears as she cried out her pain, Kenta just held her and let her get it out.

Over the past months of the two of them meeting to train, they had grown close, training and sparring together as Sayaka continued to improve with Kenta's help. She had shown great improvements and through their training had gotten the hang of that C-rank Iryō Ninjutsu she'd used in their first session after learning the academy basic Jutsu like Kenta had.

After the hours of training, the pair of them would have just sat on the water's edge talking. Sayaka had started to confide in him just how bad things had been at home with her Tou-san's lines of thinking, how he would away treat her as less than important being a girl and devoted all his time to the clan, Itachi and Sasuke; while Itachi would distance himself from their Tou-san and would be kind to her and their Kaa-san. When it came to Sasuke, she would describe him as being proud of the clan and everything they stood for, but at the same time he took on their Tou-san's belief that women were less important than men as far as being a shinobi was concerned.

The more worried she got the more Kenta had cheered her up by telling her about the pranks that Naruto had played that week on the civilians and the trouble they'd get into, needless to say, the sorrowful conversations were soon filled with laughter at Sayaka imagining the scenes.

But Kenta knew a pranking story wasn't going to cut it this time, not with what she'd likely been through. At that moment nothing else mattered because at that moment she needed him more than anything else in the world. In one night her entire world had come crashing down and there were only some fragments left standing. He was one of the biggest ones.

Kenta held her close rubbing her back not saying a word as he slowly sat up into a kneeling position holding her gently like he was scared of breaking her. After several moments of moving he'd gotten them both up with Sayaka on his lap clinging to him still as he held her close.

After another half an hour of her cries of pain, she started to fall silent; Kenta had thought she'd fallen asleep until she spoke, "Kenta…." She said her voice week, her throat probably raw from crying so much.

Kenta just held her tighter knowing she was in pain from her voice and that he wanted to let her know she was safe.

"He…he killed them all, they're all dead," Sayaka spoke again, her voice trembling and weak on his shoulder, the only reason he could hear her was because she was so close, her voice was barely even a whisper.

"I know." was all Kenta could say, nothing he said was going to reverse what happened or change things in any way. There were things he wanted to tell her, that everything was going to be ok that he knew what she was going through, but he knew it was all bullshit. How could anything be ok after what she'd been through? There was no way he knew what she was going through.

He and Naruto had always been alone; they had never known their parents so they had no one to lose but each other. That's why Kenta had always jumped to his brother's aid or defence, because if he ever lost Naruto then he really would be alone. And that thought scared him more than anything; sure he'd have Anko, Hiruzen, and Sayaka, but none of them was his family. The bonds he and Naruto shared as brothers were blood, and he never wanted to lose that.

Hearing Kenta's words or just losing her strength Kenta couldn't tell, but Sayaka started crying again, not loudly, this time, her voice was practically none existent at this point, she just shook in his arms as she cried out her pain, and there was so much of it.

Another two hours passed and still the pair sat there, Sayaka had long since fallen asleep in Kenta's arms partly from being worn out by the grief of her loss, but Kenta suspected that it was also due to the fact she hadn't slept all night.

The hours he sat there with her allowed Kenta time to think on things. Things that just couldn't add up for him as to why Itachi would do something like this. They'd meet one time when Itachi found them training and Kenta could tell he cared deeply for his Imouto and from what Sayaka had told him about Itachi he wouldn't do something like this; especially killing children or their Kaa-san. Their Tou-san, from what Sayaka had told him had always been at odds with Itachi on clan matters, but he didn't think he would have done all this because of that. No there was something amiss here; Kenta just wasn't seeing the whole picture. There was another reason behind why Itachi had done all of this and he would find out what that was, if for anything else to give Sayaka the truth she deserved.

No sooner had Kenta reached this conclusion than he felt a familiar chakra signature approaching them, only for Hiruzen to appear, via Shunshin, in front of the kneeling Kenta with Sayaka sleeping soundly on his chest.

Hiruzen looked down on his young student and the sleeping form of the young girl and he sighed a breath of relief having found them after his ANBU had been searching the whole village for the pair. He had has suspicions they were friends and so Kenta was the first person Hiruzen had though Sayaka would have gone to, but when Hiruzen couldn't find Kenta either that was when he had left to search personally.

However, when Hiruzen arrived in the area he knew something had changed. It was Kenta's eyes, the fire that had burned in them that normally held passion and warmth, was now a cold flame that threatened to destroy those who would cause pain and suffering to the ones he cared for. Seeing it Hiruzen flinched slightly, it was the same look that Minato and Kushina had during the war, the look that promised untold pain and suffering to all those who threatened their family, their home, and had been the same ones they had when Uzushiogakure had fallen. They left the village for months as they tore bloody paths through both Iwa and Kumo for their involvements. Hiruzen had hoped never to have seen those eyes again, let alone on someone as young as Kenta.

"Sensei." Kenta spoke with a low voice so as not to wake Sayaka, but its fury was felt none the less, "Why did this happen?" he finished looking into his sensei's eyes with a righteous fury demanding to be answered.

Hearing the tone Hiruzen felt himself pull back. It was like he was talking to Minato again all those years ago when he told him and Kushina about Uzushiogakure's fall and to make it worse it was in the exact same situation. Kushina had clung to Minato in the same way Sayaka was clinging to Kenta now and that had been when Hiruzen had first seen those exact same eyes demanding answers. But Hiruzen knew he couldn't give them to his young student, the matters behind the Uchiha massacre couldn't be revealed no matter how badly he wanted to. So steeling his emotions as he had to do so many times as Hokage he gave his reply, doing his best to make it sound believable. "I don't know my boy," he said taking a step towards the pair, "but I promise you I'm going to find out." he said kneeling down hoping he had said the right thing, but the look in Kenta's eye that said _'I don't believe you'_ says otherwise and it felt like a kick in the teeth for Hiruzen seeing his grandson figure and student in such a way.

Hiruzen knew giving the order he had would hurt a lot of people It had been necessary to keep the village safe, but Kenta had been the last one he had wished to hurt in this way. He just hoped if Kenta eventually did find out the reason he'd be able to forgive this old man for his stupidity.

Letting out a barely audible sigh of regret Hiruzen looked to Sayaka who was still clinging to Kenta and let his gaze soften before he spoke, "I think it would be best if we took this one back to the family she has left, don't you?" Hiruzen asked hoping to somehow distract Kenta's attention, for the time being, he knew Kenta wouldn't let this go but perhaps he could put it to the side for now.

His words worked as Kenta visibly stiffened at his sensei's words, "W-what? I-I though Itachi had killed everyone else, Sayaka said that…" Kenta began to speak shock filled his voice.

Hiruzen smiled gently and shook his head, "No my boy, it seems in some act of kindness, he spared his younger siblings and their Kaa-san. However, young Sasuke is in a deep Genjutsu induced coma and is not likely to wake for several days yet. While their Kaa-san Mikoto had been knocked out by a similar Genjutsu but is unharmed. She awoke an hour ago and that was when we began looking for Sayaka here. It was only through my crystal ball that I found you and her here. Why are you both here exactly?" Hiruzen asked as he took a glance around the small clearing, seeing the wooden logs and sparing area.

Looking to Sayaka again, Kenta sighed, "On my one day off a week, I come here to help train Sayaka. Her Tou-san didn't want her to become a Kunoichi because of his bias views on women, but Sayaka just had so much drive for it I just wanted to help her." he said looking down as her in his arms, as he brushed her hair back out of her face and behind her ear when he noticed it ticking her.

Hiruzen smiled slightly when he noticed some of the warmth coming back into his eyes when he talked about the girl. He could see Kenta really cared for her and in some way felt better about the recent events. Hiruzen had long since known of Fugaku's opinions towards Kunoichi and women in general. When the clan head had pulled multiple Uchiha Kunoichi from active service Hiruzen had tried to get him to reconsider but the stubborn bastard wouldn't have any of it and to make matters worse, Hiruzen had heard rumours, that the man had given the orders for the numbers of the clan to be increased and for the women to "do their duty" which had been confirmed by Itachi weeks after, and made Hiruzen consider killing him right then and there, the man had been a pig and a power hungry bastard with a superiority complex. Hiruzen was grateful that he hadn't discovered Kenta and Sayaka's training. He would have never permitted his daughter to have relations with a boy outside of the clan, let along the brother of the Kyūbi container. If he had it would have just been a power play to get the Kyūbi's power for the Uchiha clan.

Kneeling down to his student's height Hiruzen smiled gently, "I see, it's good to see she has someone other than family she can count on." he said looking to Kenta as slowly the cold fire returned to his eyes making the fire shadow sigh internally as he placed his hand on Kenta's shoulder, "Come on, her Kaa-san is waiting." he said softly before the three of them disappeared in a Shunshin.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Waiting in the Hokage's office worried out of her mind was the pacing form of Mikoto Uchiha, a woman in her mid-thirties with fair skin and long straight black hair with bangs on either side of her face roughly framing her cheeks and charcoal black eyes, wearing a dark purple blouse and plum-red skirt with blue shinobi sandals.

Her face frantic with worry, as she paced in front of the Hokage's desk, she had been brought here and told to wait for news on her daughter's location and well-being after she had awoken from the slumber Itachi had put her in the night previous after she had witnessed him run Fugaku through with his Ninjatō, when Fugaku had confronted him about his loyalties.

Mikoto had long lost the love she once held for the man she had called her husband before the night of his death by Itachi's hands. A fate she did not wish for her eldest, who was now to be branded a Nuke-nin to be hunted by all other villages. All because of the bastard she married who couldn't be content with the way things were in the village and strive for more power by way of a coup that Itachi had found out about and reported only to be given the mission to kill off those involved. As he had told her as such, but when she had awoken from her sleep everyone in her clan bar herself and her two youngest were dead. None of it had made sense, and right now every bone in her body was screaming at her to jump out the window and go to search for her daughter and to find out what had happened to the innocent of her clan, she knew not everyone would have been involved in the coup, but yet they had been killed as well, it was just so confusing.

However Mikoto was brought out of her thoughts and worries when she felt multiple chakra signatures coming towards her location before the Hokage arrived in a Shunshin accompanied by a young boy with red hair in what appeared to be shinobi attire, and in his arms was Sayaka sleeping soundly while clutching the boy's neck with a small content smile on her face.

Seeing her daughter Mikoto let out a breath of relief that she was all right, a worry that had been with her all morning. She watched as the boy moved to one of the sofas and gently place the sleeping Sayaka down on it gently, her smile faltering when he did so as she felt the loss of contact, and let out a small whine, but she settled again as he gently rubbed her hand letting her know he was there as the smile returned.

Mikoto watched the interaction between her daughter and this boy she never met before. Yet what shocked her most was the way in which he acted with her like they had known each other for a long while, but yet she had never seen him.

The boy held an aura of calmness over him, but she could tell by looking at his eyes, there was a force behind them that promised to destroy anyone who hurt the ones he cared for. Mikoto tried to place where she had seen a similar look before and that's when it had hit her, _'Kushina'_ , her best friend who had died during the Kyūbi attack. They were the same eyes she had all those years ago promising the same devastation and that was when she put together who the boy was. His red hair, those eye's this was one of Kushina's and Minato's children, the one who wasn't the Kyūbi container.

Seeing how he acted with Sayaka Mikoto couldn't help but frown, she'd wanted to play a more active role in the twin's lives. Kushina had been her best friend even after Fugaku had banned her entry into the Uchiha compound when the clan had started to close itself off from the rest of the village, Fugaku had ordered her not to have anything to do with Kushina and they often had fought about that often due to Mikoto refusing to listen to him and seeing her anyway. Which was one of the reasons he had pulled all Uchiha Kunoichi who were either married or in relationships at the time, her included to spite her when she rose to a higher rank that he had. Then a few weeks later she realised what the bastard had planned, he gave an order for the next generation of Uchihas to be conceived for his twisted ideas of an Uchiha run village, and for that he needed to increase their clan numbers.

After the order she had become disgusted with the man on a whole other level and had started taking the pill for the first three weeks of that time to keep from conceiving. She would never bare another one of his children after Sayaka and Sasuke. She had made sure of that in those three weeks when she had slipped a sterilization drug into his food over the three weeks to make sure, but she daren't refuse his advances for fear of what he might do in order to make her more compliant to his demands, due to what he had said one night beforehand, "A mother's love is easily turned against her". Of course after five weeks of him going down on her every night which repulsed her and only added to her hatred of the man, when there was still no signs of pregnancy Fugaku had started sleeping with other women to try to get more children that way. But Mikoto had made sure he'd never have another child by anyone again.

Mikoto was brought out of her thoughts when Hiruzen spoke to her in a reassuring tone, "You can Relax now Mikoto-chan." Hiruzen explained, "Young Sayaka is fine. It seems in her belief that her brother had killed everyone she ran to the only other place she felt safe, a training area that she shared with young Kenta here who has been training with her for a period of months now. And when he arrived after hearing of the tragedy of last night she cried herself into a state of exhaustion and fell asleep in Kenta's arms."

Hearing that Mikoto looked to Kenta, who was still beside Sayaka, with a happy gaze? The fact that her daughter and her best friend's son had met and were close, was the first bit of good news she'd had in a long time, "I see," Mikoto said with a smile, "so you are the one she has been training with?" Mikoto asked looking to Kenta before continuing, "She only confided in me that she had been training with someone outside of the clan last week, but I had never pushed to find out more as I had never seen her as happy as when she spoke about her time training." Mikoto said as she walked over to the pair and knelt down to her daughter and caressed her cheek before looking to Kenta with a grateful smile, "You have my gratitude Kenta-san for bringing my daughter happiness and being her rock in her time of need."

Kenta nodded his head in a bowing gesture back to her, "No thanks are necessary Uchiha-san, I was only doing what I thought was right to help someone I care for and see as a friend."

Smiling at Kenta's politeness Mikoto gave a mental happy sigh, _'So much like your father, and yet I can see so much of your mother in you. Kushina, Minato, you'd both be so proud of how this one has turned out',_ Mikoto thought to herself before speaking, "I see, then please continue to do so and you may address me as Mikoto, there is no need to be so formal." she said with a happy smile.

Kenta nodded before looking back to Sayaka as the cold flame returned to his eyes as he spoke out, restraining his tone somewhat so as not to offend with his words, "Mikoto-san if I may be so blunt as to ask… Why would Itachi do this, such an act, it doesn't make any sense? I don't presume to judge his character as I only met him once while Sayaka and I were training. He had come to get see her on when he returned to the village after a mission and discover our training, he seemed… Stoic but nothing to suggest he would ever be capable of doing something like this." Kenta reasoned as he kept his gaze on Sayaka and only glanced up at them to see their reaction to his question.

Both of them held some look of regret in their eyes for how things had turned out Hiruzen more so than Mikoto, not that she didn't hold some. Mikoto's held more sadness than anything at that moment, that she hadn't done something years before this and let it get as bad as it had.

Seeing the look Kenta turned his gaze back to Sayaka who was still sleeping as he sighed, he could tell they were keeping something from him. The real reason as to why the Uchiha clan had been reduced to four members with one on the run responsible for the others deaths. He may have been young, but in the shinobi world, you learned you had to grow up fast or die far too young.

"It's fine." Kenta spoke before they could answer him, "I know it's not my place to ask or know, but it is hers." he said as he gestured to Sayaka, "She deserves to know why her brother slaughtered your clan and will be branded as a traitor; and I mean the "real" reason, not whatever reason you deem is fit for the public to know." he said before standing up and looking to them both, "I know now may not be the best time for it but eventually she will figure it out that whatever reason Itachi gave or whatever reason you tell her is a lie. She will push for the truth and I'll push right alongside her." he said as he looked at them with the cold fire in his eyes and a tone that wasn't so gentle anymore before he sighed and looked a lot more tired than he had been and looked back to Sayaka, "I'll take my leave now, Sarutobi-sensei, if Sayaka wants to see me please make sure she can find her way to mine, she's welcome any time."

Hiruzen nodded, "Ok, Kenta thank you, you may go." Hiruzen said in a saddened tone hearing him speak like that.

Kenta nodded once before disappearing in a red-feathered Shunshin, Mikoto looked to Hiruzen.

"Did he call you?" Mikoto asked a silent question and Hiruzen nodded.

"Yes he did, I've been training the boy in secret for close to half a year now, it was his personal request and the only way I could think to make up for my mistake for not looking out for them both as I should have." Hiruzen said as he leant on his desk looking older than he was, "I fear that he meant what he said, eventually no matter what we do the two of them will look for the truth about last night one way or another."

Mikoto nodded with a small frown, "I know, I saw his eyes. I never thought I'd see those eyes again as long as I lived, not that I wanted to."

Hiruzen nodded, "I understand fully, those eyes, too many promise pain and harm, but to me…" Hiruzen shook his head with a frown, "the last time I saw them Uzu had fallen. That was one of my greatest failures as Hokage. Last night I sat at this very desk asking myself if I had failed again when I gave Itachi that order. When I saw those eyes…" Hiruzen lowered his head, "I got my answer."

* * *

 **Flashback end**

Kenta frowned thinking about that day, he never wanted to see Sayaka like that again; the pair of them hadn't spoken a single word about the massacre since, nor about Itachi. Kenta didn't know if Mikoto or Hiruzen had told her the truth about why it happened, Kenta doubted it. The official reason given was that Itachi had grown sick of his clan holding him back and so removed those who stood in his way before leaving the village, thus killing any who had a chance of stopping him in the future.

This had only been confirmed when Sasuke had awoken a week after saying that was what Itachi had said to him before trapping him in a Genjutsu, the details of which Sasuke had refused to talk about. The only reason Kenta knew of this was because it had been told to him by his sensei who he'd been giving a narrowed glare on for a week for not being told the truth, though he'd eventually put the matter to the side on Anko's advice.

Coming back from his thoughts Kenta focused on the fight once more and his eyes softened somewhat before he spoke, "So that's Sasuke?" he said in a somewhat sympathetic tone.

This seemed to get the pink haired girl's attention as she turned to look to who she'd been talking to, and she jumped when she saw him, she hadn't been expecting someone her age to look like he did, he was taller and she though he was at least a good few years older than her, the scar on his chin made him look fierce and his hair was wild, if it wasn't for the fact he didn't have the facial tattoos she'd have mistaken him for Inuzuka.

"Oh, I'm sorry Senpai, I didn't realise who you were, I'm Sakura Haruno, first year," the now named Sakura said as she bowed slightly in apology.

Kenta looked at her raising an eyebrow at the Senpai comment and smirked realizing what she thought, "Ha-ha, I guess all my training made me look older than I am." Kenta said rubbing the back of his head as Sakura looked at him in confusion, "I'm no one's Senpai here, Haruno-san, name's Kenta Uzumaki, brother to the so-call Blond-Baka"

Sakura looked at Kenta with some shock and slight embarrassment realising what she had said earlier, and she quickly bowed again, "Oh, I'm sorry, I never thought..." she started to apologise but Kenta just waved her off.

"It's fine Haruno-san, you didn't know and he's been called worse," Kenta said with a smirk, "and truth be told my Otōto can be a Baka from time to time."

"So can my Nii-san." came a voice from behind them, causing Kenta to look over his shoulder with a smirk seeing Sayaka coming down the stairs in her new outfit and style she'd started wearing a few weeks after the events of that night.

Sayaka had told Mikoto about her wanting to be a Kunoichi and Mikoto had been more than happy to help her in training for the academy though she had already learned the academy basics there were still the clan techniques and extended training she could help with.

She still met Kenta once a week for training and other times as well for training now that she wasn't stuck in the clan compound studying the whole time she had started to be more open with her personality and the change of hair style and clothing showed it.

Now dawning a purple no sleeved top that went from her shoulders to her hips with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back and a black short-sleeved hoody underneath and pair of knee length black skin tight shorts with mesh tights and black shinobi sandals, with two black bands on her wrists with the Uchiha clan symbols on them. Her new hair style was wilder that it had been when they first met the two years ago when her hair was parted to the sides, now she let some fall over the top of her forehead in a messy fringe and an ever-present smirk.

Kenta grinned seeing her, "Good morning Sayaka-chan, good to see you," he said with a grin seeing his friend.

Sayaka grinned back, "Same to you Kenta-Kun" she said before they both heard the yelling increase from the crowd making them both sigh. "Perhaps we should sort out our Baka siblings before we continue this chat?" Sayaka proposed getting a nod from Kenta.

"Hai," Kenta said as he stood up from the desk and gestured to them, "After you Sayaka-chan," he said acting the gentlemen, earning a giggle from Sayaka at the gesture as she walked passed him and he followed as they started to walk down the last few steps.

"You take yours and I'll take mine?" Sayaka inquired to Kenta as he walked alongside her getting a nod in response before they spit heading in opposite directions in the crowd to get behind their targets.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were two busy butting heads glaring at each other to notice their separate siblings approaching them both from behind, until their glaring match was cut short when a hand came in from the side and grabbed Sasuke's ear in a vice-like grip before pulling him to the side and away from Naruto, as the Duck-butted Uchiha winced from the pain in his ear.

"OW! What the hell Sayaka!" Sasuke yelled as he was pulled away about to reach to get her off him but flinched back when she squeezed harder while pulling making him think twice.

Naruto on the other hand having noticed the male Uchiha's misfortune started pointing and laughing at the scene in front of him, only to find himself suddenly arched over with a familiar arm wrapped around his head as he found himself in a headlock as he started flailing his arms realizing who it was as he tried to get out of it.

Shaking his head in amusement Kenta looked to Sayaka as he held Naruto with ease, "Siblings can be so much trouble sometimes aren't they Sayaka-chan," he said before looking to the blond head in his grip, " always acting so childish." he said before giving the head a thump making Naruto stop flailing.

Sayaka giggled, "Oh yes Kenta-Kun, they can be, but that's what the more responsible of us are for to keep them from being childish," she said giving a glance to Sasuke, "though it can be a pain sometimes." she finished in a sickly sweet tone before pulling Sasuke's ear closer to her as she spoke again, "Onii-chan~." she said in a tone making Sasuke shiver slightly

"Y-Yes Sayaka-nee." he replied hoping to avoid whatever she was scheming in her head, he'd rather avoid his ass being turned into a pincushion like the first time he'd heard that voice, which was followed by a storm of Senbon needles.

The smile Sayaka had at that moment would make even the Shinigami wet himself with fear as Sasuke gulped, "I would recommend not trying to start fights your first day, Nii-chan~." She said tilting her head to the side with her smile growing wider, "Or you might get in trouble with Kaa-chan again and you know how she gets when you disappoint her." she smiled giving her little warning which only made Sasuke shake more in slight fear as he felt his blood run cold from the threat.

Kenta smirked hearing that knowing the reason after having been told about what happened to Sasuke after he woke up in the hospital after he gave his report of the night. The idiot had started right off the bat saying he'd "Avenge the clan" and kill Itachi for what he had done. Needless to say, that had not sat well with Mikoto at all, who had preceded to beat the ever-loving tar out of Sasuke for it leaving him in the bed for another two days after he had awoken already.

And ever since they had gotten back from the hospital, Mikoto had started playing a more active part in their daily lives, as well as re-starting her training and revoking the law on the clan that Fugaku had created and allowed the women to become Shinobi again, which mean the Sayaka could start training, and Mikoto would aid her with plans of her own to re-join the active shinobi core when her children started the academy.

Mikoto had been an active shinobi and a master at her own Kenjutsu style and knowledgeable of hundreds of others, combined with her Sharingan it had made for a lethal combination, and when they had gotten back Sayaka had never been happier at that point when Mikoto started helping her train.

Though Sasuke had been vocal about it not being what their Tou-san would want, Mikoto had declared that it no longer mattered. Since she is the oldest Uchiha she was the clan head now as the clan laws had said, the strongest Uchiha was to be clan head if a successor hadn't been appointed by the previous, and Fugaku had never done so with Sasuke so the law stood, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

And over the time from the massacre till now, any time Sasuke had tried to assert control over the clan as the last male Uchiha Mikoto had nearly sent him to the hospital after each outburst, and the last time he argued that he'd be clan head and kill Itachi, Mikoto had sent him to the hospital for a week and passed the decree that as long as she was the clan's head, no Uchiha was allowed to kill another and she wouldn't step down until he surpassed her.

It was the fear of another ass kicking that had Sasuke afraid, or more rather what made him put on the mask of fear, while on the inside he was enraged at what they were doing to the Uchiha name, _'Someday I will kill that bitch for holding me back and not letting me take revenge for Otou-sama and our clan, who does that bitch think she is'._

Kenta chuckled at the sight of the shaking Sasuke, "That's a very interesting control method you have there, Sayaka-chan," Kenta said before smirking sadistically, "although a little light for my taste."

Sayaka looked to me with a smirk, "Oh and how do you handle yours then?" she asked giving Kenta a curious look.

Kenta grinned as he balled and raised his fist, "like this," he said before placing the tops of his knuckles against the top of his Otōto's head and processed to rub, "Hard." making Naruto cry out in discomfort from the heat and pressure on his head as his older brother noogied him, "Getting the message yet Otōto?" Kenta asked in a playful tone, "No fighting in class, save the grudges for the Taijutsu ring." he said as he finished chastising his little brother before releasing him as he fell backwards rubbing his sore head.

Kenta turned to him, "Now I suggest we all get to our seats as our class Sensei's are at the door." Kenta said giving a smirk as all the other students looked to see the men standing in the doorway.

Both were wearing the standard Chūnin attire consisting of the blue tracksuits and green flak jackets and Konoha headbands. The first had short black hair and had a slight tan to him, with a rather deep looking scar below his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. The other had longer silver hair and slightly paler skin and had a smirk on his face seeing the interactions in the classroom.

The one with the scar was the first to speak, "Very well spotted Kenta-san, it's good to see at least one of the students is observant." he spoke as the two of them entered the room and the students moved to take their seats.

Kenta nodded in response as he moved to walk to the far back left of the room, as he was followed by Sayaka who released Sasuke who walked to his seat as he grumbled about annoying little sisters.

Both Sayaka and Kenta sat at the top left-hand side of the classroom in the back row, Kenta had noted it to be the most strategic of spot, it was the highest spot in the room and had a perfect view of both doors and did not have a window beside it, meaning he wouldn't be blinded by the sun at any time of the day, and it meant no one could surprise him from behind, and he could observe the entire classroom with no difficulty, as he watched both instructors move to their positions at the front of the class.

The scared Chūnin spoke first, "Good morning class, and I'd like to welcome everyone to their first day as an academy cadet. My name is Iruka Umino, and this is my teaching assistant Mizuki, and we will be your instructors for the next four years in all things shinobi related." the now named Iruka began to explain, "First today we will be going over the fundamental basics of what being a shinobi entails, and then later we will be having a Taijutsu tournament to assess some of your skills, now let's begin shall we…" Iruka said as he took out the textbook from his desk.

As Iruka began talking Kenta took this opportunity to scan the room and observe his other classmates, he could pick out a fair number that were from the clans judging from their attire, features or spotting their clan's symbol on their clothing.

* * *

 **Time skip**

Kenta sighed, it was ten minutes into the lecture and he was already growing board, both he and Sayaka were on the verge of falling asleep while sitting up as they listened to Iruka talk. They had covered everything that Iruka was talking about already in the years previous. Since Kenta had access to the shinobi library he was able to bring tons of scrolls to their training sessions for them to read, and when Sayaka had gotten access to her clan's libraries she had gone on a four week long reading spree reading every scroll they had that wasn't Jutsu or Sharingan related before she started into them. So needless to say they both were well versed in the basics that were being covered.

Kenta glanced over the room and raised an eyebrow as he saw another student down a few row who had the same feeling, and wasn't as discreet, as he'd quite literally fallen asleep at his desk from his boredom.

The guy had black hair and had it tied back in a spiky ponytail and was wearing a mesh shirt and grey short sleeved jacket with green markings, Kenta recognized the mark on his back as that of the Nara clan and remembered that all Nara males had over two hundred IQ points and so it was a reasonable guess he'd already read up on everything the class would be covering for the next four years.

In his training, Kenta had already read up on all the clans and knew each of their traits, as he had learned that his and Naruto's class would have multiple clan heirs in it, and Kenta could tell looking around he had been right. Though in Kenta's curiosity he'd looked for any sign of an Uzumaki clan, to his dismay there hadn't been.

Deciding to follow the Nara's example Kenta lowered his head to the desk using his arms as a pillow and get comfortable, however that only lasted a few minutes as his training kicked in when he heard the whoosh of air as he moved his hand on instinct and caught the blackboard eraser that had been thrown at him while his eyes were closed, only for a crack to be heard followed by a groan, apparently the Nara had the same experience only hadn't caught the eraser before it hit his head.

Keeping his head down Kenta sighed, "Iruka-san, I think you've misplaced one of you black board erasers." he said in a bored tone getting a few giggles from around the classroom.

Iruka's eye twitched, "Well then Kenta-san since you and Shikamaru-san seem to be so bored with my lecture that you decided to sleep," Iruka said before giving a small smile, "why don't you explain to the class the three skills a shinobi possess are. If either of you cannot you will both stay after class and copy from the textbook."

The newly named Shikamaru sighed as he rubbed his head, "What a drag." he complained not really wanting to exert himself on the pointless task. Kenta, however, felt his own eyebrow twitch in annoyance, a trait he'd picked up from Anko when someone decided to piss him off. At that point, Kenta gave a sadistic grin one that made Sayaka smirk when she saw it, and she could guess what he was going to do, show off.

Standing up grin still present Kenta began talking, "Three of the basic types of techniques Shinobi use are listed as either Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or Taijutsu:

Ninjutsu is a shinobi's primary, which allows the user to do something that they otherwise would be incapable of doing, including the advanced usage of weapons. Unlike Genjutsu, which makes the opponent see Illusions, the effects of Ninjutsu are real. They vary greatly in purpose, with the simpler Ninjutsu serving such tasks as transforming the user or allowing them to evade attacks. These techniques are often second nature for experienced shinobi, who can use them at will. More complex Ninjutsu manipulate one's surroundings or utilise the elements, respectively serving such tasks as healing others or manipulating nature transformations.

Ninjutsu, most of the time, relies on chakra and hand seals to be effective. The hands are put in sequential positions that moulds and manipulate chakra in a necessary manner to perform a technique. This is not always needed, however, and some techniques become second nature to experienced shinobi, after which they can perform them at will.

Additionally, there is the kind of technique that can be classified as a basic or advanced elemental techniques, the basic type are techniques with specific elemental released Futon: wind release, Suiton: water release, Katon: fire release, Doton: earth release, or Raiton: lightning release. The advanced type combines two or three of the basics elements and creates a new one, however, this is normally only possible for those who possess the unique blood limit or Kekkei Genkai, which I will get to.

When creating a Ninjutsu, the two methods of manipulating chakra are referred to as shape transformation and nature transformation:

Shape transformation deals with controlling the form, movement, and potency of chakra.

Nature transformation usually deals with changing the physical properties of chakra into an element.

These two methods can be implemented separately or together in order to create a Ninjutsu.

Without proper control of their chakra, a shinobi will produce ineffective or weakened technique which will lead to them running out of chakra early in a fight. To manipulate their chakra more easily, hand seals can be used. With these hand seals, users can control their chakra and technique with higher efficiency. Different techniques require different hand seals.

Genjutsu are techniques that are employed in the same fashion as Ninjutsu, requiring chakra and hand seals. However, the primary difference between the two is that the effects of Genjutsu are Illusory; instead of attacking the victim's body, like Taijutsu or Ninjutsu, Genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses.

This is frequently used to create false images or to cause pain from trauma: because the body is led to believe it is in pain; however, there are plenty of other uses depending on the situation. They are not used as often as Ninjutsu because they don't physically harm the opponent, Genjutsu can also be used to manipulate others, similar to brainwashing by feeding the victim subtle suggestions, Genjutsu can also be used for other supplementary purposes such as interrogating an individual by breaking their will.

Genjutsu is created when a shinobi controls the chakra flow of the opponent's cerebral nervous system, thereby affecting their five senses. Those with special abilities like the Uchiha clan's Sharingan — which can cast generic Genjutsu — or with high intelligence have an easier time executing and countering Genjutsu. Those under the influence of Genjutsu will either appear to be unconscious or continue to move around under the pretence of the Genjutsu. The latter is very effective in battle as a Genjutsu user can make themselves appear to be somewhere else and attack the victim from behind or change the environment to make the victim see a flat plain where there is a steep cliff.

Genjutsu that affects the victim via hearing is the most dangerous one as it can be done from a faraway distance, enabling the caster to stay away from enemy range while casting their Genjutsu.

Genjutsu attacks usually require a lot of skill, and, if performed incorrectly, will not work. Genjutsu is most often used by shinobi with very precise chakra control and very high intelligence.

The final skill, Taijutsu is a basic form of techniques and refers to any techniques involving the martial arts or the optimisation of natural human abilities. Taijutsu is executed by directly accessing the user's physical and mental energies, relying on the stamina and strength gained through training. It typically does not require chakra, though chakra may be used to enhance its techniques. Taijutsu generally requires no hand seals to perform, occasionally making use of certain stances or poses, and are far quicker to use than Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. Taijutsu is simply put: hand-to-hand combat.

Depending on the difficulty or skill necessary to perform a technique, they are ranked differently. There are six different ranks in techniques:

E-rank - Learned by Academy students, are the basic and most fundamental techniques for all Shinobi.

D-rank - Genin-level techniques. Can be achieved by all Genin, though many shinobi only learn their "type" of technique.

C-rank - Chūnin-level techniques. Sometimes learned by Genin who have trained extensively.

B-rank - Jōnin-level techniques. Require high levels of chakra to use.

A-rank - Kage or Jōnin-level techniques. Require great control over one's chakra and may be forbidden.

S-rank – Secret and/or extreme level techniques. Which are typically unique to a single shinobi.

Going on would require explaining about such things as bloodline limits or Kekkei Genkai, or even the likes of Fūinjutsu, but no one would need to learn about them until they are at lease Jōnin rank, and as I don't want to start a seminar on those matters I will stop there. Is that enough Iruka-san?" Kenta said as he grinned finishing his lecture, smirk still present.

Sayaka had to keep herself from rolling over laughing at the scene, as Iruka, Mizuki and the majority of the class were giving Kenta a "WTF" look as he had just completely recited all the facts about the basic three skills any shinobi would know.

Sayaka knew it all as well given that she'd learned it beside Kenta and then did it over again when Mikoto had started her formal training, and reviewed all she'd learned, needless to say, the older Uchiha was impress with the skills that her daughter had managed to learn while training in secret.

Naruto who was grinning from his seat, couldn't help but chuckle slightly at his Nii-chan showing off, he knew he was smart considering how much he'd trained in the prior two years, the fact that he knew all that didn't shock him in the slightest.

Shikamaru just lay back on his desk wanting to resume his sleeping, not really caring much for the little lecture/answer, as it was pretty basic stuff. While Sasuke gave Kenta a small glance before grunting and looking back to the front, the only reason he looked was because he heard his clan and the Sharingan mentioned, but after that, he paid no more attention to it.

Coming back from his shocked expression Iruka blinked, "Um that's correct Kenta-san…" Iruka said as he finally registered the last few words and gave a pleasant smile, "but please refer to me as Sensei when you address me in class, it's the same for everyone."

Kenta just blinked as he sat down before replying, "Not to be rude Iruka-san, but there is only one man I will ever refer to as sensei, and to be frank, you nor anyone else could ever hold a candle to him. And no I will not divulge openly who my Sensei is, only that I have been studying under his tutelage for close to two years now and he is far more skilled than anyone in this room could ever hope to be, now…" Kenta continued leaning back in his seat as he pulled his hood up to cover his eyes, "once more, no offence but wake me up when we're actually learning something that I haven't memorized or that's listed in the first ten rows of the shinobi library." he finished as he closed his eyes using his hood to blot out the light.

For the next ten minutes about ninety-seven percent of the class stared at him in astonishment, gaping at his bluntness, but it was that unintentional moment that did what Kenta had been hoping not to do, at that moment the girls in the class were divided in half as half stayed loyal to the last Uchiha male and the other half started fawning over Kenta, and thus the Kenta fan club was born.

* * *

 **Scene break**

The day was going on as planned, after the events in the classroom Iruka was watching Kenta with some interest, curious about the red headed enigma. He wanted to know just how smart Kenta was and if his skills matched his smarts, he decided he'd ask lord Hokage about the possibility of having him graduate early if his skills matched up to what he suspected in the Taijutsu match ups.

Everyone had gathered outside in the school yard next to the Taijutsu sparring platforms, which were raised three feet off the grounds with steps up either side of the platform, with bleachers a few meters away for those not fighting to wait and watch any matches in progress.

In twos, each student had been called down for their match up while the rest of the class watched. Kenta had watched with some fascination as the other students sparred and to say he was underwhelmed by most of the fights was an understatement, the majority of the fights had been between clan children against civilian born, it was obvious in each fight who was going to win, the civilian children had little to no experience in a hand to hand combat while the clan children had, as Kenta predicted, extensive training in their clan's styles, or at least had been given lessons prior to attending the academy in order to prepare them for what they'd be learning. The results were as you'd expect, the clan children dominating over their civilian counterparts with hardly any resistance as they were pitted against each other.

When it came Kenta's turn to fight he took his position and his opponent took his, from what Kenta could tell by his appearance he was just an ordinary civilian child also, no clan markings or distinguishing traits linking him to any clan what so ever, Kenta knew this fight wouldn't be much of a challenge for him but decided to at least give the other guy a chance and so took up a lesser stance of his style, his body tilted to the left and his right arm in a slanted angle from left to right as he held his fist in his Taijutsu's style, fingers balled to the second joint as his left arm went to behind his back, he wouldn't need it.

The civilian boy took up what Kenta could assume was a form his parents had shown him, somewhat of a boxers stance, his fists balled and raised to jaw height as a guard, his fists were at least formed properly, but his guard was too low and left the lower part of his body and sides open as his arms were too tight together, it was painful for Kenta to look at.

 _'Hmmm what to do, should I go Anko and kick the poor fool in the jewels and let his parents feel sorry for trying to teach him and failing, or should I just knock him out… I'll go for the knockout, less of a headache for Sensei'_ Kenta thought and decided as he listened for the command for the fight to begin.

"Hajime." Iruka called to begin the fight, watching with some curiosity Kenta's stance wasn't one he was familiar with but was soon to see how efficient it was when the civilian student rushed Kenta with a wild left going for Kenta's head.

Kenta saw the attack coming and it was so slow to what he was used to, he had time to plan out the next several moves he'd do before he had to make a move. First Kenta moved his arm to the side pushing his opponents arm just enough to make the attack go wide as he swooped down low and buried his left shoulder into his opponent's gut, before spinning on his left heel and swooping low before raising his right leg up and launching a rising heel into his opponents jaw sending him into the air and crashing onto the ground from the side of the platform.

The result was an instantaneous silence from all onlookers at the sudden quick finish and efficiency of Kenta's moves, as his opponent was laying on the ground groaning from the pain in his gut and his jaw. The kick had been held back so as not to do any serious damage, the move was meant to be used in the heat of battle to effectively snap an opponent's neck in one move, but the situation didn't require that outcome, and Kenta wasn't fond of the idea of taking a life for no reason.

Lowering his leg from his kicking pose Kenta took a breath to relax himself and his stance, before turning and walking off the platform for the next match up.

Snapping out of his stupor Iruka raised his hand, "Shōsha, Kenta Uzumaki" he announced getting a resulting cheer from half the girls of the class who were fanning over the red head. Who Iruka was now watching with even more interest, as he walked over and retook his position.

Kenta sat down frowning slightly, _'Well that was just a bore, I was hoping for something more, he could have at least dodged that kick and kept the fight going, it's not like I was moving at my full speed, and I even upped my restrictions a level yesterday, I'm sitting at level two gravity here and level four in resistance, and I'm nowhere close to breaking a sweat, if this is the level of skill there is as far as these civilians go, these are going to be four very long years'_

The matches continued next with Sayaka going up against a civilian girl, as Kenta watched, during their training Kenta had helped her work on her own Taijutsu style, since she was unable at the time to learn the Uchiha's clan style the **Interceptor fist** , due to her Tou-san's views and laws she had to choose from the range that Kenta was able to pick from in the shinobi library to start her off, and after their training together had been revealed after the massacre Kenta had asked Gai if he could correct any mistakes she had in the form, though after watching her Gai had said her forms were perfect and that there was nothing to correct that Kenta was a natural teacher and that his "flames of youth" were burning brighter every day, of course, this time Kenta had the experience to know to look away when he gave his smile and not be blinded, and he'd reacted in time to shield Sayaka's eyes from the light.

So instead of her clan's style she had chosen to learn a more subtle form for herself, a style called the **Twin fist (Tsuinken)** , a style that was similar in ways from the interceptor fist but completely different all the same, while the **Interceptor fist** relied on waiting for an opponent to make a move only for them to be countered by crippling blow or attack, relying on the Sharingan's ability to follow enemy movements while the **Twin fist** worked differently, where it was more deceptive. The user would launch a lighter attack at one location and leave herself open for a second giving her opponent an opening to attack only to close it the second they did before countering the attack and dealing a devastating blow, usually going for a neck or face shot to provide more openings, the style was subtle but doable with practice It required fast reflexes and a fluid body for the movements to be quick and fast, that was one of the reasons why Kenta had recommended it for her to learn as he realized how devastating the style could be when she gained her Sharingan later on, Mikoto had seen it as well and chose to add it to the clan's library for later generations saying it had been recommended before but that it had been turned down the men of the clan not being as quick and agile as the women and that the interceptor style had been the style chosen instead which required more muscle and force behind them to use it

As Sayaka's fight began she fell into one of her stances that her style used, her fists raised leaving several opening, the style closely resembled that of the academy style the basic fist but it taught how to close up the gaps that the basic fist had in its stances to allow for quicker counters.

But both Sayaka and Kenta winced seeing her opponent's stance, both her hand's opens and her footing was all wrong, it looked like she'd be blown over by a strong enough gust of wind before Iruka started the fight.

As the girl came in to attack first it was made even worse when the girl went to slap Sayaka, which just pissed her off, they were here to become shinobi and Kunoichi, and this girl didn't even have the intuition on how to throw a punch, this girl was just hopeless.

Moving faster than her opponent Sayaka knocked her open hand slap away before delivering a solid punch to her stomach as Sayaka stepped to the girls side as she doubled over only for her face to meet the bottom of Sayaka's foot as her heel buried itself in with force and launched the girl backwards screaming only to be silenced when Sayaka brought her arm back and slammed her elbow into the girls neck knocking the girl into dreamland as she collapsed on the ground.

The brutality of the attack left all the other girls gawking at the scene each now fearing their own fates if they were paired up to fight the female Uchiha. While the boys were wincing seeing how quickly she brutalised her opponent, making mental notes not to piss her off.

Kenta smirked at her as she came back to sit beside him and Naruto gave her a big thumbs up as she came over, the two had been introduced sometime after the Uchiha incident and had been good friends, Naruto even going so far as to call nee-chan at times when she visited.

Next was Naruto's match against another civilian, while Naruto was nowhere near as skilled as Kenta and Sayaka had become, thanks to his brother's torture/training lessons, he was actually capable when it came to Taijutsu, not that he needed to be against these civilian kids. Blocking his opponent's fist before delivering a solid uppercut into his jaw and the following through with a left haymaker for the knockout.

Kenta smirked seeing his Otōto smile as he was announced the winner, but he noticed a rather distinctive glare of hatred from the assistant Mizuki when he say Naruto's skill, only to stop when he felt a spike of killer intent directed at him from Kenta as he caught the red heads glare at him for looking at Naruto that way, only for Mizuki to sneer at him as well, Kenta made a mental note to report this to the Hokage if Mizuki did anything that would screw with him or his Otōto.

The next match-ups were soon under way and it was Sasuke versus Shikamaru, the match was over in a blink of an eye, well almost, after three counters from Sasuke when none of Shikamaru's attacks were hitting, he forfeit, while giving the reason it was too much work to continue.

Kenta shook his head at the Nara's lazy attitude but couldn't help but agree in some way, though each of the counters had been easily dodged, they were all aimed at critical areas like the throat or kidneys, and by the looks of thinks, Sasuke wasn't holding back any force. Meaning if Sasuke had been faster he'd have critically wounded the Nara, not the goal in a friendly spar, especially against a fellow student and possible fellow Konoha shinobi and future clan head.

Next was a fight between the Yamanaka clan heir and the Hyūga clan heir, which Kenta was interested in.

The Yamanaka was called Ino, she had fair skin, blue eyes, and long pale-blonde hair worn in a ponytail extending to her waist, with bangs framing the right side of her face. She wore a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt. With bandages on her abdomen and legs, and two small hoop earrings in her ears, and white arm warmers as sleeves leaving the middle of her upper arms bare, and on her feet were standard blue shinobi sandals.

The Hyūga, easy enough to tell from her pale eyes, was one Hinata Hyūga, she had dark blue hair in a Hime-cut just above her forehead with chin-length strands framing her face and pale eyes, she was wearing a cream-colored hooded jacket with a fire symbol on the upper sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, along with a pair of navy blue pants and blue shinobi sandals.

Comparing them both Kenta could see the Yamanaka was more confident looking by the way she was standing, while the Hyūga looked to be somewhat timid and shy. Kenta frowned at that, he had heard how Hiashi was, a stoic man normally cold and unfeeling towards most, and it would appear even to his daughter, and knowing how the Hyūga prided themselves on being the strongest clan in the village, even more so now after the Uchiha incident, the girl's training would have been harsh and not have been easily coped with an unfeeling father.

Kenta had hoped to see the famous gentle fist style of the Hyūga clan and see what it was capable of, but now he was worried if the girl was even going to be able to put up a fight looking at her, and he was right.

As the fight started Ino started attacking, though they were only gentle and hardly attacks at first, and given who she was it surprised Kenta, Inoichi the girl's father was a proud shinobi and would be kicking himself if he saw how his daughter was fighting, granted his clan prided itself on their mind Jutsu over their Taijutsu but still this was just pathetic, all she was doing was slapping, and Kenta was sure the whole fight he could hear Sayaka growling and hissing in anger watching the fight, she really hated fan girls.

The entire fight Hinata was just dodging and blocking the hits, not fighting back, or at least until Naruto called out from beside Kenta, "Come on Hinata you can do it!" he called excited.

Kenta glanced at his younger brother and raised an eyebrow, "You know her Otōto?" he asked

Naruto nodded, "Yea we met a few times when you were training, some bullies were picking on her because of her clan and I chased them off with the Taijutsu you taught me, and we talked for a while until she had to go home." he explained with a smirk.

Kenta blinked and grinned at the information before chuckling, "Damn, my Otōto is going around saving Heiress on his days off pranking, who knew my Otōto was such a little hero." he teased as he laughed, before looking back only to blink suddenly seeing a burst of determination in Hinata's eyes before she rushed Ino and in a blur of strikes Ino was sent out of the ring making Kenta blink, 'What the hell where did that come from' he thought before looking at Hinata with confusion, as she suddenly eeped at what she had done and then became shy again.

Kenta blinked, _'What's with this girl, one second she's timid and scared then after hearing Otōto's cheer she suddenly gets a burst of courage and dominates the match, it's like she's…._ ' Kenta thought before realization hit him and he started chuckling internally before he pulls Naruto into a side hug and grins, "Oh Otōto you make me so proud sometimes you know that"

"Hu, what are you talking about Nii-chan?" Naruto asked completely clueless to what was going on.

Kenta playfully slapped his brothers back, "Oh nothing Otōto, it's just I think I've found what's going to keep me amused for the next four years and a long time after that." 'My brother is the most clueless, idiot to ever walk the elemental nations' Kenta laughed

As they were talking the next match played out as the Aburame heir defeated the Akimichi Heir in their fight, which was over in a few moments due to the Akimichi not being able to use any of his clan's expansion Jutsus in combination with his Taijutsu and the Aburame easily outlasted his big boned opponent.

Next, it was Kenta's turn again as he walked into the ring and smirked, _'Maybe, I'll actually get a good fight this time'_ Kenta thought as he saw his opponent coming up his side of the arena steps.

* * *

 **And I'll end it on a cliffhanger, for now, I hope you all enjoyed that it was the longest chapter to date, so please take a moment and drop a review on what you thought, Peace out =)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Decided to update for Xmas, have a good one everybody =)**

 **Chapter 5**

Kenta stood across the sparring area facing his opponent. He has messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, and pronounced canine teeth. He wore dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood pulled back covering the back of his head. Under the coat, Kenta could see a blue rim of a mesh-armoured shirt. He has distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks signifying he was from the Inuzuka clan.

As he stepped into the ring a small puppy with white fur and squinted eyes appearing closed, it has a brown nose, as well as brown patches on its ears and a brown outline around its mouth with the fur on top of its head is styled to somewhat resemble a Mohawk stayed outside of it as the boy gestured for his partner to stay back.

Kenta began to remember what he had read about the clan, they specialised in training their Ninken (ninja hounds) to fight along beside them and their Taijutsu style was described as beast-like and erratic focusing on slashing and clawing with their Chakra enhanced claws rather than punches (though the style included them as well). While it focused on those it wasn't as strong without their clan Jutsu to back it up or their partners by their side. Kenta knew he had the advantage in this fight.

Iruka stepped forward, "Second round, Kenta Uzumaki versus Kiba Inuzuka." Iruka announced as both boys slipped into their Taijutsu stances.

Kenta decided to go defensive and took the stance he normally used to fight with Anko, right arm vertical, left arm across his waist and fingers balled to the second joint with his body at an angle.

While Kiba, dropped into his family stance, lower to the ground on all fours, and began to channel his chakra into his nails as they grew out some for his attacks.

"Try not to lose too quickly," Kiba smirked, "I'd hate for your fangirls to not see enough of you," he said showing a fanged grin.

Kenta smirked back, "It's not like I was trying to get them." before he chuckled, "It's not my fault you don't have any, maybe your just not trying hard enough."

Kiba growled at the comment as his claws grew out more just as Iruka raised his hand, "Hajime." he called as he dropped his hand and Kiba took the first attack right off the bat lunging at Kenta with a furry of clawed slashes.

Taking the defensive, Kenta moved his arms in time and deflected each of the attacks that came at him swatting the hands away at the wrists and pulling away before he could be grabbed.

After several deflected attacks Kiba went to try and pin Kenta lunging at him with claws hands ready to rip him apart, but Kenta simply swerved on his heel and moved out of the way as Kiba hit the dirt again and again on each attempt.

"Hold still you bastard!" Kiba yelled infuriated as he missed again.

Kenta smirked, "Sorry not going to happen, but if you're getting tired you're welcome to settle down for a breather, I'll wait." he said keeping with his taunting strategy riling Kiba up more and more as his attacks got more and more predictable.

"Bastard!" Kiba yelled as he started clawing at Kenta again only more viciously than before making Kenta start swerving to dodge them and yet not attacking back.

Kenta was grinning the whole time, he was easily able to keep up with Kiba's attacks and riling the dog boy up was somewhat funny. After the extent of his training fighting at these speeds was child's play to him, but the dog boy was at least lasting longer than his last opponent. Mainly because Kenta had yet to throw one attack, but that was about to change. The fight or rather Kiba trying to hit Kenta was approaching the third minute now and it was starting to get a little old for him.

"Sorry Kiba-san, but I'm going to have to end this now otherwise no one else will get their turn." Kenta said as he moved out of the way of another slash.

Kiba scowled, "Like you could ass-" before he was cut off as he threw another clawed hand only for Kenta to move faster than he had the whole time and grab his wrist and pull the Inuzuka forward and off balance before the next thing Kiba felt was a pain in the back of his neck before darkness took him.

Kiba hit the ground out cold leaving the majority of the class gaping seeing sudden action, after pulling Kiba forward Kenta had moved with such speed it was hard for them to keep up, as he delivered a hard chop to the back of Kiba's neck knocking Kiba out before he hit the ground.

Seeing that one boy was down Iruka raised his hand again, "Shōsha, Kenta Uzumaki." he announced as once again the cheers started as Kenta walked off the arena.

The resulting cheers brought Kiba out of his out cold state at the sudden noise and he looked around realizing what had just happened and scowled, he'd been beaten, before turning and glaring at Kenta in rage. But didn't dare do anything, attacking after a loss would have been dishonourable, and his Kaa-san would have castrated him for such an act on the first day of the academy.

Kenta noticed the glare he was getting from Kiba and sighed, _'Great, I pissed him off to much, guess I'll have some bridges to mend tomorrow… perhaps a treat for his partner, they do say one way to appease a Inuzuka is through their Ninken'_

Hearing the next match called Kenta turned to watch as Sasuke and Shino Aburame took to the ring and Kenta gave a small involuntary shiver. After reading up about the Aburame he had to take a shower, he knew they were effective shinobi and all, but the lengths they went to with their insects, to actually house an entire colony inside their bodies. The thought of it was somewhat disturbing.

Shino had dark, bushy, brown hair and wore a pair of dark sunglasses covering his eyes. The rest of his attire consisted of a light grey jacket with a high, upturned collar, brown shinobi pants to his mid calf's, and blue opened toes shinobi sandals.

After hearing the match up and seeing who was fighting Kenta sighed, getting a glance from Sayaka. "What not your type of match up?" she asked.

Kenta shook his head, "There's no contest here on who's going to win." Kenta said in a disappointed tone, "The Aburame clan while a powerful clan in its own right has little to any Taijutsu users, they specialized in their insects and long range attack, but get in close with a solid punch and they're in trouble. If your brother loses this match I'll be shocked."

Sayaka blinked and looked back to the match as it began, and it wasn't long before Kenta's hypothesis was proved correct, Sasuke's speed and strength quickly overpowered Shino and after three blows the Aburame forfeit the match by stepping out of the ring.

As Shino walked by him Kenta glanced to him, "You might want to consider taking up lessons in the use of a close combat weapon, seeing as your clan doesn't have a strong Taijutsu style. It would be best to branch out so that you aren't caught in close combat unprepared." Kenta spoke in a neutral tone offering advice.

Shino stopped beside him as he listened giving no sign of being of being offended and nodded, "A wise suggestion, I will take it under advisement. Do you have an idea on where I should start?" Shino spoke in a neutral tone also, while he analysed Kenta from under his sunglasses.

Kenta paused for a moment; "Accounting for your body type and what I witnessed in your Taijutsu match I believe a set of Tonfas would be an ideal pair of weapons for you. Your height would provide a long reach and they would provide an adequate defence in both hand to hand and melee combat, and with your long sleeves they would be easily concealed to surprise opponents who haven't faced you before."

Shino looked to be standing completely still in thought for several moments pondering the recommendation before nodding, "I will look into the matter, as I believe you are right about such weapons being beneficial. Thank you Uzumaki-san."

Kenta nodded in response before turning back to the next match up as Shino continued on his way.

Sayaka watched the exchange and watched the Aburame go before speaking, "Not very good at show what he's feeling is he."

Kenta gave a small chuckle, "From what I've heard all Aburame are like that, men of few words and little emotions. They only speak when they feel it's important, in truth I'm surprised he responded to me at all instead of just nodding. Just goes to show you never can tell about some people and that it's better not to judge one person based on what you've heard." he said before sighing, _'Still can't get over those bugs though'_

Sayaka smirked at Kenta's words and was about to reply when the next match announcement caught her attention, "Sasuke Uchiha versus Naruto Uzumaki." making Sayaka look back to the ring so fast she almost had whiplash.

There standing facing each other in the ring was her brother Sasuke facing off against Naruto and she immediately looked to Kenta to see his reaction, it was the same as her own, concern. Naruto had received training from Kenta on Taijutsu but it was nowhere near perfect, while Sasuke had been training for a lot longer, and from what he's shown in his last spars he didn't hold back.

Kenta's eyes narrowed on the match as a thought crossed his mind, _'I know since the class is an odd number someone had to fight twice, but why put Naruto against Sasuke, if it was alphabetical it would have been me, this doesn't make sense…unless_ '. Kenta's eyes went to Mizuki and the silver-haired instructor had a wicked smirk on his face that made Kenta scowl, _'That son of a bitch, he did this on purpose. That tears it he has to pay…and I know just the way.'_ he thought before looking back to the match as it was about to begin, _'Come on Otōto, just remember your lessons'_ Kenta thought worried for his little brother.

"Hajime." Iruka announced as the match began.

Naruto immediately went on the defensive as Sasuke started attacking with a barrage of punches and kicks. Naruto kept his arms up keeping his face and neck covered to keep from getting to badly hurt, but the barrage was endless and Naruto couldn't get an opening not used to fighting at the speed Sasuke was at.

Kenta watched from the sidelines his fists clenching as he watched on. He knew that Iruka would stop the match before anything serious happened, but watching this was bringing back memories of those nights of October tenth, as he unconsciously reached for his shoulder where his most prominent scar was and clutched the clothing over it as he watched on. An action that didn't go unnoticed by Sayaka who frowned seeing Kenta so angry, though she had a feeling as to what was causing it. But before she could speak to try to help a cry of pain came from the ring, making her look back to it quickly, it was Naruto's voice.

Naruto had been keeping up a tight defence blocking every high attack, but each block was only angering Sasuke more as he couldn't get a solid hit in. After another failed attempt he had had enough and went low driving his knee into Naruto's open gut making the blond cry out in pain and lowering his arms to clutch his gut before Sasuke capitalized on the opening and rammed his elbow into the blond's face making him cry out again, but still not pass out. Enraged further Sasuke raised his right foot and heel kicked Naruto in the chest hard sending him back and out of the ring with force. But before Naruto could hit the ground Kenta was there and caught his Otōto in a burst of speed before he hit the ground causing further injuries.

Naruto felt being caught and looked up to see Kenta was the one who stopped him, but the look on Kenta's face made him stiffen. The scowl that Kenta was directing at Sasuke, the one who had hurt his Otōto, was filled with anger and rage that promised pain and lots of it. But as he looked to Naruto it suddenly became a face of concern, "Otōto, you ok?" he asked looking to Naruto worried.

Naruto nodded shaking off what he'd seen, he knew his brother cared for him and would make anyone who hurt him pay, though sometimes he wished he'd stop worrying, "Hai, I'm ok Nii-chan." Naruto said before looking down, "Sorry I lost."

Kenta smiled standing his brother up and patting his shoulder, "You've only had a few months training don't let it get to you. This just means we'll have to step your training up a few notches in the next session to really get some results." he said with a smirk.

Naruto couldn't help but shiver as a chill ran down his spine from his brother's words; the training was already monstrous, what was a step up going to be like, "H-Hai N-Nii-c-chan." Naruto responded slight fear in his voice.

Kenta sighed, "Now get going I've got my match now." Kenta said gesturing to the others. Naruto nodded and quickly walked to over to the rest of the class, Sayaka quickly rushed to Naruto and started checking him over and Kenta could see her apologising over and over and Naruto saying he was fine which just made Kenta shake his head in amusement before his gaze hardened as he looked to the ring and the smirking Sasuke in it, before he started up the steps.

As Kenta stepped into the ring Iruka looked watched him with slight worry. The glare he was giving his opponent wasn't the kind you gave an ally, but then again the Uchiha had just went overboard with his younger brother. He couldn't have expected him not to show some anger after the fact.

But just as Iruka was about to begin the final match Kenta raised his hand, "Hold on a minute Iruka-san." he said stalling the man.

Sasuke scoffed, "What's the matter, giving up already?" Sasuke smirked looking at Kenta ready to fight.

Kenta glared at him, "Hardly, I just wanted to see if you wanted something more out of winning this match." Kenta said as he glared.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked with slight curiosity.

Kenta gave a smirk, "Simple a prize for this match that's all, seeing as this is the final. Wouldn't you want something for coming out on top, nothing physical, but a privilege after this?"

"Get to the point already." Sasuke said getting impatient.

Kenta grinned, "I say the winner gets another match that will really test their skills and the winner gets to choose one of our Chūnin instructors to fight in a spar. What do you say Iruka-san it would give the rest of the class an idea of where the top of the class stands compared to a trained shinobi such as either of yourselves?"

Iruka pondered a moment on the idea but just shrugged, "It's unorthodox and not normally done, but I don't see why not, I'll agree." Iruka said before looking to Mizuki, "What about you Mizuki, if you're asked to have a spar?"

Mizuki grinned, "Sure, it will be educational." he grinned while inside laughing. It was perfect, if he went up against the Uchiha he could give him a fight and make him want more power, while if it was the Kyūbi container's brother he could just beat the crap out of the brat and call it a life lesson.

Kenta grinned _'Trap baited and set and the dumb idiot has fallen for it and is about to be skinned alive. Oh this will be fun, but first…'_ Kenta thought before looking back to Sasuke, "There now with that sorted out." he said before moving into a different stance.

This time his body was facing to his right and his right arm was against his body and his left arm was facing Sasuke only this time it wasn't horizontal for defence it was vertical with his fingers bent to the second joint as he settled his attention on Sasuke waiting for the match to start.

In the audience Naruto gulped slightly, "Oh crap, Nii-chan is pissed." Naruto said with a little bit of fear in his voice.

Sayaka looked at Kenta's stance and was slightly confused, she'd never seen him in this stance when they sparred. Normally he was tilted to the left and his right arm was horizontal with his left by his side. Then she heard Naruto speak and looked at him, "What are you talking about, what's that stance?"

Naruto watched Kenta with a slightly nervous look, "Nii-chan's style has multiple stances depending on what the goal of the user is. Normally when Nii-chan is fighting he always uses the one stance for defending and countering before launching attacks, but the stance he's in now isn't defence orientated it's strictly offensive based. In short, Nii-chan is about to demolish Sasuke and it's not going to be pretty."

Sayaka blinked before looking back to the ring just as the match was about to start and Sayaka has an inkling of worry for her brother in this fight. She remembered how Kenta had been defensive about Naruto when he defended her from those three boys and how he had beaten them up. Now something was telling her that her brother was about to get the same lesson and it was going to be hard.

Iruka raised his hand, as he looked between the two boys in their stances, before dropping his hand, "Hajime."

As soon as the word was said Sasuke went on the attack but before he could get even a single step Kenta was in front of him his right hand moving for a strike. It was too fast for Sasuke to block as it came in and lifted so the palm was going to make contact as it slammed into Sasuke's nose at an angle hard.

The impact sent Sasuke's head back exposing his windpipe which was meet by Kenta's right elbow causing Sasuke to choke on his breath and grab his throat before whatever air he had was knocked out of him as Kenta grabbed both of his shoulders and drove his right knee into his gut hard before Sasuke was pushed back and his head was met by a left front heel kick right to the face sending the Uchiha out of the ring hard and unlike Naruto hit the ground with a grunt coughing as he tried to get his breath back while holding his gut from the knee her received, while his nose was bleeding from the palm and then the foot he took to it.

Kenta stood in the ring glaring at the down Uchiha as Iruka went to check on him, and frowned seeing his injuries before looking to Kenta, "Uzumaki that was too rough to a spar with a fellow student."

Kenta looked at him with a disapproving look, "Last time I checked Iruka-san we are training to be shinobi in this academy and the enemy will not go easy on us. A beating now will encourage him work harder and not let it repeats itself. Although you said I was too rough in actuality I was holding back and could have crippled him had I so chose to do so, but that is what I classify as to rough. As for his current injuries, that's what Iryō-nins are for." Kenta said cold tone.

Iruka frowned at the tone and was about to reprimand him when someone walked around him, he looked and it was Sayaka leaning down to her brother, "Excuse me Iruka-sensei this will only take a moment." she said before running through three hand signs Rat → Ram → Dog as a small amount of chakra gathered in her hand's surprizing Iruka.

 _'She knows Iryō Ninjutsu at her age… I see Kenta must have known this in advance that's why he mentioned Iryō-nins. He knew she'd be able to heal him'_ Iruka thought as he watched Sayaka heal Sasuke's nose like it had never happened but stopped there not healing the rest of him, "What about the rest of him, aren't you going to heal that or is that all you can do?" Iruka asked wondering why she stopped at just the nose.

Sayaka shook her head, "No, I agree in what Kenta-Kun said it will encourage him to work harder. Besides after the way he's been treating his own opponents he can't complain when one of them treats him the same." she finished standing up and starting back over to the rest of the class.

Sasuke growled at his sister's words as she walked away. What the hell did she know? How dare she treat him like this? How dark that bastard Uzumaki beat him like this? He was an Uchiha he was an elite. How could he be beaten like this? He'll show, them he'd show them all.

Ignoring the pain in his gut Sasuke got up and rushed past Iruka at Kenta as he weaved through hand signs Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger. He'd make this bastard pay, **"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" (Fire release: Great Fireball).** Sasuke called out as he fired a fireball in Kenta's direction to incinerate the bastard, but his eyes widened when the fireball kept going and hit the ground on the other side of the sparring ring instead, with Kenta nowhere to be seen.

"You know you really are slow." Kenta spoke making Sasuke freeze, the voice came from behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Kenta crouched on the ground behind him with his hands together in what looked to be a seal Tiger. "Seeing as you tried to hit me with a Jutsu I think it's only fair I return the favour **Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi" (Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death).** Before ramming his index and middle fingers into Sasuke's behind making Sasuke's eyes widen before being launched forward and into the air and screaming. He then went crashing into the ground after twenty feet the impact of which knocked him out cold.

The sudden exchange of events left everyone astounded at what had happened, and finally after several seconds of processing the events multiple things happened. Everyone looked to Sasuke with shock of what he had done: attacking Kenta with the Jutsu, looked to Kenta in shock of the speed he had demonstrated dodging the Jutsu with such skill, and then a WTF look at the ass-poke, before bursting into applause overall, with both Ino and Sakura screaming about their Sasuke-Kun rushing over to him.

Iruka blinked seeing the scene before rubbing his forehead feeling the sudden migraine that was coming on with he felt was going to be a precursor to a lot more in the future years ahead of him.

Kenta smirked as he stood up normally, _'Never thought I'd ever use that Jutsu, though I'll have to thank Anko for teaching it to me'_ , he thought before turning to Iruka, "Sorry about that Iruka-san, can we continue?"

Iruka just sweat dropped at the casual request, "Normally, I'd say no considering what just happened, but seeing as no one was hurt" ***edit out yells of Sakura and Ino*,** "we might as well. So who do you want as your opponent?"

Kenta turned and glared at Mizuki, "I'll take the silver hair conditioner." he said with a smirk.

Iruka gave a smirk at the comment and Mizuki had a twitching eye at the comment, "Alright then I'll be the referee." Iruka said as Mizuki walked into the ring the two sizing each other up as they took their stances.

Mizuki inwardly was smirking, _'you wanted a fight Gaki now you're going to get one. Don't blame me if you get a few broken bones from it'_

While Kenta's mind was clear except for a single phrase, _'Time to pay bastard'_ , as he took his defensive stance. While he wanted to go on the offensive he knew it wouldn't be wise, this guy wasn't Sasuke and likely had plenty of experience behind him, but even so he was only a Chūnin, he was used to fighting at Tokubetsu Jōnin speeds as he had insisted Anko constantly up her speed over the time they training. As well as not forgetting all his sparrs and training with Gai, he knew he had the skills but it was best to play it safe and take his payback as slow as possible.

Iruka looked between the two raising his hand before bringing it down "Hajime."

The pair of them stood completely still watching each other as they kept their stances waiting for the other to attack first, the class and Iruka watched on as they waited to see who would strike first. This went on almost thirty seconds before Mizuki shifted his weight on his right leg and Kenta saw the movement and followed it, able to read what was coming.

Mizuki pushed off his right foot and went for Kenta with a left hook, he was fast and Kenta could easily see that he was putting more power behind the attack than he was meant to a fact that Iruka didn't miss also. But to his shock, Kenta reacted with speed that surprised him. Mizuki's left came in, Kenta's right forearm came up and his outer forearm block Mizuki's inner forearm with enough strength to change its trajectory upward slightly as he moved his body low as he swooped under it as it harmlessly sailed over his head, and moving with the same speed Kenta's left arm shot forward and impacted Mizuki's stomach making the Chūnin flinch from the impact. The attack had been chakra laced to get through his flak jacket and make it hurt.

Feeling the pain Mizuki scowled and capitalized on his and Kenta's position as he brought his left leg around in an attempt to knock the red head on his ass and break a few ribs while he was at it. But Kenta saw it coming and shocking those who saw as he moved his left arm not to block but to steady himself on the incoming leg as Kenta jumped into a mid-air roll as he sailed over the incoming leg, before he put his legs out and stuck the landing and turned quicker than Mizuki could react before Kenta took the offensive and thrust both his chakra powered hands into Mizuki's back, hard.

Mizuki's eyes widened in the pain he felt in his lower back muscles, although his spine had been wide open Kenta had aimed for the muscles instead of the spine so as not to risk permanent injury and cause a scene that would draw too much attention to him any more than he already was going to have by beating the shit out of Mizuki.

Stumbling forward but remaining in the ring Mizuki scowled in pain as he turned back on Kenta and rushed him and started throwing a flurry of punches at him each harder that was meant to and each aimed at the face or crucial areas of the body like the liver and kidneys trying to cause serious damage. But each time Kenta evaded them or changed their trajectory on-route so they intentionally missed, but the onslaught was causing Kenta to back up closer to the rings boundary line.

As Kenta neared the edge Mizuki threw another wide left but as Kenta redirected it, he used that opportunity to instead grab Kenta's shoulder and went to bring him forward into a high knee but instead of it meeting as intended Kenta brought his right arm down and hit the knee to the left so it missed him and in the process brought his own knee up and drove it right into Mizuki's crotch. No chakra enhancement just pure strength and it was enough to make the Chūnin voice jump several octaves to a near inaudible scream as he felt his manhood crushed on impact, as men everywhere flinched before he dropped to his knee's clutching his groin. Kenta moved to behind him his hands together for the second time and called out the attack, **"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi" (Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death).**

The sounds of Mizuki's girlish scream was heard all over the village as Kenta pumped more chakra into his hand than he had with Sasuke and as a result sent Mizuki flying farther and harder as he soared over the academy over the village and landed in the occupied portion of the woman's hot springs.

The result of which were a series of painful high-pitched screams all from Mizuki as the women set upon the presumed pervert and unfortunately for him it was the day that one Tsume Inuzuka had decided to treat herself to a relaxing day out. The man would never be the same again.

Back at the academy, Kenta stepped back out of the pose he had taken in the process of the attack, his right leg straight pushing him forward and his left leg bent slightly with both his arms straight up hands still together pointing into the air.

The entire class was gaping from what they had just seen, aside from a few as Sakura and Ino were too busy tending to the still unconscious Sasuke. Naruto was holding his gut laughing his ass off and Sayaka was going her best and failing to suppress her laughs seeing a grown man going from a contralto to a soprano before being sent flying screaming like a little girl. Iruka just stood with his mouth agape, his jaw on the ground and his eyes white over and wide at what he had just seen.

Kenta rubbed the back of his head, "He-he." he faked a chuckle "I guess I went a little overboard on that one."

In one of the trees of the academy ground was the chuckling form of Anko as she tried her best to keep her voice down as she laughed at the scene, _'Damn it Gaki, that's showing them something, oh if this is what the next four years are going to be like, I think I've found my next off mission pass time show'_

 **Scene break**

After class had ended for the day a few hours later, Kiba Inuzuka growled to himself, with his Ninken: Akamaru on his head as he headed down the dirt road off the main path heading for his clan's compound in the forest area.

Walking through the open gates he headed for the main house, still pissed off over his loss in class at how he lost so easily, what the hell did that Uzumaki do to get that strong, there was no way he trained harder than he did, but yet he didn't even land a single hit on him and yet he was dispatched so easily like it was a game to him.

Akamaru stayed silent understanding his master's anger at losing, but daren't offer any suggestions as they'd likely be taken as pity, something that his master didn't want.

As he entered into the large main house he kicked off his sandals as Akamaru jumped off his head to the floor of the main hallway.

The floor of the main hallway was stone and concrete set with a clear view to the railing on the second floor. Large pelts of bears and wolves hung from the walls of the corridor that had three doors, two on the left and a larger third at the far end.

After placing his sandals to the side he started down the hallway to the final door opening it and entering into the open planned, kitchen and Lounge space.

To the left was the large kitchen space with dark oak kitchen utilities and stainless steel appliances, the countertops were white granite with specks of grey and lighter shades throughout, with the same stone and concrete flooring as the main hall, the two windows were decorated with vertical hardwood Venetian blinds with stainless steel chains, with a larger set pulled to the side of the large set of double glass doors leading to the backyard and training area.

To the right was the lounge area with four large circular chairs each with a sandy brown fabric finish and a full pelt over their backs, with a large fireplace on the far wall.

Entering, he instantly notices another presence, sitting in the lounge area with her partner lying on the ground next to her seat, was Kiba's Kaa-san Tsume Inuzuka the matriarch of the Inuzuka clan.

Turning her head slightly as she saw the door open Tsume greeted her son with a smirk seeing him come in, "Well so you're finally back pup. How'd the first day at the academy go?" she asked with a smirk, which turned to one of interest as she saw, the young pups reaction.

Kiba frowned slightly and looked down with a slight growl at being reminded, but daren't refuse to answer his mother, arguably one of the three strongest women in the land of fire. "It was alright, I think I'm going to need to up my training at home, though," he said hoping that his Kaa-san would drop it but knew she wouldn't.

"Oh, and why's that, training at the academy not up to what you expected?" Tsume asked wondering why he's want to train more at home, not that she'd be against it, training was always good, but she'd supervised his training herself, and she was content with how his training had been progressing.

Kiba walked into the lounge area and sat down on one of the seats Akamaru jumping up onto his lap, "A bit, but that's not why I want to train more." he said before gulping slightly before he spoke again considering his next words very carefully, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Tsume, "I lost in the third round of the Taijutsu tournament today for class rankings."

Tsume raised her eyebrow at the news as the watched her youngest pup with a critical gaze as she let out a small displeased growl of her own, "I see. Were you allowed to have Akamaru by your side in this fight or were you alone?" she asked trying to estimate just why her pup had lost, she hadn't been light on his training in their clans Taijutsu style, but if he was without his partner then she could understand why he'd have lost given the facts.

"I was on my own, it was just one on one." Kiba answered as Tsume nodded.

"I see, well I can understand how you would have lost then against another clan child if that was the case." Tsume said with a frown, "Don't let it get to you, with Akamaru by your side I'm sure you would have won."

Hearing his Kaa-san's words Kiba nodded but winced slightly at the clan comment, "The thing is Kaa-san, the guy I lost to wasn't from any of the clan's." Kiba said as he prepared for the verbal ripping that would lightly follow.

Tsume's eyes widened when she heard that and she let out a throated growl, "I see, so you're telling me you lost to a civilian child. It would seem that my training has either been too lax or you got cocky in the ring. Which is it?" she growled out knowing what Kiba could be like, he was a hot head sometimes always trying to show off and normally failing in the process.

"I wasn't acting cocky Kaa-san," Kiba said his head lowered in a sign of submission not wanting to risk angering her as he explained, "the guy was just too fast for me. No matter how I attacked him he dodged each time I went for him." Kiba explained quickly.

Tsume was starting to lose her patience with the pup as she let out another low growl, had it been a clan child she could have understood him losing, they would have been trained as much as he had been if not more and without Akamaru and their clan Jutsu he would have been at a large disadvantage. But losing to a civilian was bordering on the pathetic, "And just who was this civilian boy who beat you that moves with such speed?" she growled out in anger.

"Uzumaki, Kenta Uzumaki." Kiba said in a low tone with an obvious dislike for the boy having lost to him.

Hearing the name Tsume paused for a moment as she remembered back to the meeting nearly two years prior, which had been about the older of the Uzumaki brothers. But one of the few details that peeked her interest that she remembered. That fact alone lessened her anger over Kiba's loss to the boy; while he may not have been from a clan he had received training. "I see, very well then," Tsume said keeping her eyes levelled on Kiba, "we'll increase your training then given the facts that you were without Akamaru and you couldn't use any clan Jutsu. But you had better not let this happen again and double your training efforts, I won't stand for one of my pups looking weak is that clear." she said in a dark tone leaking a low wave of Sakki into her tone making Kiba shiver feeling it.

Kiba nodded his head still not daring to look his Kaa-san in the eye, "Hai." he responded in a solid voice not daring to let out a stutter of fear, had he it would have only made things worse on him.

Nodding Tsume sighed, "Good, your extra training starts in an hour, I suggest you go to your room and rest." she said leaning back in the chair.

Kiba nodded his head as he stood up as Akamaru followed him out, noticing the scowl of anger on his master's face knowing there was only one who it could be for, _'Kenta Uzumaki'_

 **Scene break**

It was the second day in class at the academy and Kenta was getting a mixture of varied looks from his other classmates in the room. Blushing glances from half the girls in the room, most of the guys were likely giving him irritated looks for that reason, while others were looking at him with slight fear and respect after his little performance the other day in training. Though there were two looks that stood out from the others.

Glancing over the scroll Kenta was reading from his seat he could see Kiba was still giving him the same heated glare he had been ever since he walked in that morning, obviously still angry over his loss the day before.

Then glancing down the front he caught Sasuke doing the same. When the last Uchiha male had woken up the day before he had been raging at what Kenta had done to him and would have likely demanded a rematch had Sayaka not cut her brother off before he could reminding him of what their Kaa-san would do should he behave poorly on the first day of the academy which had shut him up pretty quick.

As he glanced he couldn't help notice some of the girls were glaring at Sayaka who was beside him, more than likely because he gave her attention when he wasn't giving them half of it. The entire first day he'd only talked to her and Naruto and barely said a few words to anyone else which he was starting to measure was part of the attraction that was drawing the girls, his mysterious side. Same with Sasuke, only Kenta didn't brood all day.

Kenta sighed looking back to his scroll, "Great job Kenta nicely done, piss off two of the more violent orientated classmates on the first day and trounce a Chūnin instructor. There's no way that can come back to bite you in the ass." Kenta mused to himself in a low voice getting a chuckle from Sayaka who overheard him from her seat.

"It's not that bad, Sasuke-Nii wouldn't dare try anything with me here and dog boy is all bark and no bite, worst he can do is try to pee on you." Sayaka giggled, "And Mizuki-Teme deserved it if you were right about him rigging the matches."

Kenta sighed, "Still doesn't help with all the attention it's putting on me. A shinobi is meant to be discreet and never seen. Yet on the second day I'm already the second thought on everyone's mind."

"Oh and what's the first then?" Sayaka asked.

"Whether Mizuki survived his trip to the woman's section of the hot springs or not. Rumour was Kiba's Kaa-san wasn't impressed with him landing in while she was trying to relax." Kenta smirked to himself mentally giving himself a pat on the back for that one. While he wouldn't have been able to give Mizuki the beating he wanted to, he had no doubt that one of the strongest Kunoichi in the land of fire would be able to do it quite easily.

No sooner had Kenta spoken than the door to the classroom opened and only Iruka walked in looking rather disappointed to an extent as he did.

Although not many of the class noticed him as they were all talking amongst themselves, although they were soon focused on him.

"SHUT UP AND PAY ATTENTION!" when his head grew twenty times bigger and his voice turned into a high-powered yell.

The majority of the class sat straight in their seats immediately silenced by the sudden yell and display, Sayaka leant over to Kenta, **"Ōkinaatama-Jutsu?" (Big head Jutsu)** she asked to which Kenta nodded before they turned their attention back to the front of the class.

Iruka cleared his throat after his yell, "Now that I have your attention. After yesterday's unscheduled demonstration Mizuki-sensei, unfortunately, won't be re-joining us for the next several weeks at the most. He is currently on temporary leave to recuperate from yesterday's events." Iruka explained neglecting to mention the extent of his fellow instructors injuries; which ranged from a fractured skull, twenty broken bones which included all four of his limbs and most of his ribs, a shattered left foot, two crushed testicles, multiple slash, claw wounds, and rectal bleeding due to a perforated lower intestine from the chakra powered ass poke Kenta had delivered.

As the class started muttering and talking about the news Iruka stepped forward again, "Now-now class I know this is sudden, but we can still continue even without Mizuki-sensei and today we'll be starting by announcing the current class rankings. At the top of the boys we have Kenta Uzumaki at the top with Sasuke Uchiha taking second and Naruto Uzumaki taking third. While on the girl side first place is tied between Hinata Hyūga and Sayaka Uchiha after their last match ended in a draw and Ino Yamanaka taking the second."

Once again the students started muttering as Kenta and Sayaka smirked. They had both been training hard and both had their eyes on the spots of rookie and Kunoichi of the year when they graduated. Although Sayaka and Hinata they had both fought their hardest, but neither side could penetrate the other's defences and after several minutes the match had been announced a draw.

While others were talking about the rankings Sasuke was scowling in his seat at losing to a civilian. He was an Uchiha he should have been at the top and to add even further insult to injury his sister had managed to take the top spot along with the Hyūga clan heiress, while he had been beaten by a civilian and then humiliated. To make matters worse on top of all that the bastard that beat him was friendly with his sister. He knew that if his Tou-san was still alive he would never had allowed Sayaka to enter the academy, yet their Kaa-san had given her not only the permission to do so, but helped her train as well. She helped him as well, but what irritated him was that she was training them at the same speed. He should have been years ahead of her, but she was able to keep up just fine. None of this was making sense how could she have been at the same level of training as him; he needed to be stronger that's all it was he'd just train harder. He'd surpass that bastard, then he would defeat that useless bitch of a mother of his, and then he'd kill Itachi for what he's done.

As class continued on the rest of the day tension seemed to be in the air somewhat due to the heated glares that were going about the room, mostly from Kiba and Sasuke directed at Kenta and a few from Sasuke to Sayaka for over staging him in the tournament. So Iruka was glad when lunch had finally come around and everyone started to head out to have lunch in the yard. It was also Iruka's chance to speak with a student that had drawn his attention the first day.

"Kenta, could I speak with you for a moment?" Iruka called to the red head that was about to leave.

Kenta looked to Iruka and then looked to Sayaka and gave a smile and a nod gesturing to go on that he'd catch up before turning and walking back into Iruka, once everyone was gone they could speak privately.

"I assume this is about yesterday in class and in the ring Iruka-san?" Kenta asked as he crossed his arms. He had been suspecting that he'd be confronted about his abilities sooner or later, but on the second day he really needed to learn a bit more self-control when he was around people. Perhaps Anko had rubbed off on him a bit too much.

Iruka nodded in response, "Yes Kenta, after yesterday it's clear to me that you are more skilled than the rest of your classmates if your little speech in class was anything to go on and the hand to hand you displayed, most civilians don't come to the academy with that level of skill. From what you've said you have already received training in shinobi skills and I suspect you are even holding back in some departments. Hiding your skills like a true shinobi while at the same time not letting others push you or your Otōto around. I was going to propose that I nominate you for early graduation at the end of this year with the skills you showed I have little doubt you'd pass."

Kenta nodded and sighed, "You and my sensei both have no doubt on that and you are correct in your assessment of my skills. I am indeed holding back, but as for your recommendation on early graduation I have to say no. I have a very detailed plan on how I want to graduate and if everything goes as planned I will not be graduating till my final year along with the rest of my age group."

Iruka was shocked at the sudden information, "But why Kenta? Surely you'd easily be able to pass the exam when the time comes for it. Your Taijutsu is top of class, you're clearly well read on relevant subjects and with some training I'm sure you'd have the academies Jutsu down in no time for the exam. Why don't you want to graduate?"

Kenta sighed again, "Do you have a brother Iruka-san?" Kenta asked, getting no reply he continued, "I didn't think so, Naruto is my only family and I care for him deeply. I want to keep him safe but in order for me to do that I need to be close to him and I cannot do that if I graduate ahead of him. While I could pass the exam and become a Genin with little problem and likely a Jōnin by years end I choose to stay in the academy for him. While chances are low that we'll be in the same Genin team at the end of it as teams are made for certain purposes and they try not to put family together. This way I can be close to him until graduation at the very least."

Hearing Kenta's reasoning Iruka nodded, "I can understand your reasoning Kenta. But if I may ask, in yesterday's sparring when you were facing Mizuki why did you chose to fight him and beat him the way you did?"

Kenta looked to Iruka with a neutral look, "Because he set up my Otōto to face Sasuke and get beaten. I'm sure you noticed in our fight that wasn't the kind of strength most would use against a new student. All of his attacks were aimed to do long term damage or perhaps even kill me. For reasons unknown he is bias towards my Otōto and me, just like a large population of this village while I don't know as to why. I am grateful that you do not appear to be one of those who share whatever opinions they have about Naruto and myself and for that I thank you."

Iruka frowned slightly as Kenta turned to leave, he knew the reason why he and Naruto were treated like they were and he had seen how Mizuki was acting towards the blond and his brother. He was going to correct him about it as he was the senior staff member, but Kenta had dealt with him before Iruka had the chance. At least the brothers would get seven weeks without him messing with them and something was telling him that if Mizuki was foolish enough to try it again when he got back that next time Kenta would more than likely deal with him in the same manner as the first time if not more severely. The redhead was definitely one to be trifled with when it came to the safety and happiness of his younger brother.

Seeing his frown Kenta smirked thinking it was about his decision on not graduating early he decided to put the instructors mind to ease, "Don't look so down Iruka-san, staying at the academy for my Otōto is my choice and I know I won't regret it. Think of it this way, you get a student that you already know is Genin level if not higher, that's one less to worry about. Plus I'll be helping my Otōto to train so you'll only have to worry about his book smarts, which I'm also making sure he works on. I've already got him working on bettering his chakra control and I'm drilling the academy Taijutsu into him hard, though apparently not hard enough if the match yesterday was any indication." Kenta said shaking his head, "You can also use me help you better the other students it's like having an assistant that isn't a creep, you can have them spar against me or the like and I'll hand you in a report of where they need to improve and help them work on it. All I ask is seeing as you know how skilled I am, if there's a time in class where I ever dose off from boredom don't throw an eraser at me." Kenta said before giving Iruka smirk that disturbed him slightly, "Cause the next time you do, I'll likely return it the same way, only with several Senbon needles following after it, got it."

Iruka chuckled nervously at the comment and nodded, he was right on what his skills would mean for the class he could be an asset and he'd need all the help he could get with Mizuki out of commission for the next several weeks.

Kenta turned and started walking towards the door heading out, "Oh and one last thing Iruka-san, if I don't turn up for class some days or turn up late it's likely due to the fact I found something beneficial for my own development or towards my studies and training as preferred to sitting in class relearning what I've already learned. It's the same with Sayaka since the two of us train together quite frequently which I'm sure you more than likely suspect. We'll both turn up for the Taijutsu portions as they offer us some form of contest besides each other and it's by far the more enjoyable class."

Hearing that Iruka blinked in shock, "But what about the academy Jutsu, you both have to learn how to do them for the final exam."

Kenta chuckled as he opened the door, "Sorry to say Iruka-san, but I learned those three Jutsu the **Bunshin no Jutsu** , **Kawarimi no Jutsu** and **Henge no Jutsu** in the first three months of my training and I was the one who helped Sayaka learn them so neither of us needs to learn them cause we already do. Although Sayaka's Kaa-san might have her attend more class than myself from time to time, but that's just what Kaa-san's do I guess. Now if you'll excuse me Sayaka-chan is waiting for me to eat lunch with, Ja ne." he said before walking out leaving a stunned Iruka his lower jaw on the floor gaping at what he had just heard.

 **Scene break**

Walking out into the main yard Kenta could feel eyes on him from multiple locations and closed his eyes for a moment and smirked feeling the familiar chakra signature. With a smirk on his face he walked back inside and out of sight for a second before disappearing from inside the academy in a red feather Shunshin.

On the other side of the yard in the tree branches Anko sat with a smirk watching on, wondering why Kenta had went back inside before she blinked feeling his chakra before a familiar voice spoke out to her, "Enjoying the show Anko?"

Anko looked above her to see Kenta standing on the branch above her with a smirk.

Anko grinned, "Yep, just waiting to see what happened in the sitcom that is your life Gaki. Yesterday it was the silver haired creep to get his ass handed to him. Nice job on that by the way, I'm just wondering who's ass's next on your chopping block."

Kenta smirked giving a shrug, "Don't know yet, I'm just playing it out as it goes. I just wanted to stop by and say enjoy whatever show come's next." he said before disappearing into another Shunshin.

 **Scene break**

Kenta reappeared behind a tree and walked around it before sitting down surprizing Sayaka who was on the other side.

"What...where'd you..." Sayaka started looking around in shock at him suddenly coming out of nowhere, "How do you do that?"

Kenta smirked, "You'll learn one day, now let's enjoy our lunch shall we." he said as he unsealed his bento box from a storage seal on the inside of his flak jacket and started eating.

As the two eat, Kenta unsealed a paper pad and a brush with ink as he started plotting out a detailed array on the paper, his stroke's fluid and his hand moved with such skill it was like an art form in motion.

Sayaka watched in amazement as Kenta worked. She was amazed with the detail in the array, while she had no idea what it was for the skill of which Kenta made it was what astounded her the most. After a few lessons she could only make a basic storage scroll and smoke tag, but each took her five minutes to make at most and they were poorly made but worked. Compared to them the design that Kenta was working on was something she doubted she'd ever understand.

As Kenta worked he felt Sayaka's gaze on him and felt his cheeks heat up slightly from being watched by her, but kept his emotions and reactions in check like he had been trained to do. He had noticed it had been happening more and more any time he had been around Sayaka. He had no idea as to why however when he had asked Hiruzen about it the old man had chuckled and simply said he'd find out one day. He'd thought about asking Anko, but decided not to, knowing her she'd have likely laughed her ass off at his question.

As he continued, on the left he could feel other's gazes on him. Some of the girls from his class were watching from a fair bit back in curiosity about what he was doing, those closer were awestruck at his skilled hand movements.

Closer to him he felt some familiar aura's before speaking to one, "Otōto, don't even think about it." he spoke feeling Naruto who was hidden from view looking over Kenta's shoulder on the opposite side from Sayaka, "You still need years more practice before I even consider teaching you how to make this array, but your **Tōton Jutsu (Invisibility Jutsu)** is getting better."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he dropped his **Tōton Jutsu(Invisibility Jutsu)** becoming visible, "Sorry Nii-chan, I just wanted to watch you work. That seal looks so cool, but it's complicated. You lost me after the first three inner arrays."

Kenta smirked, "Three? Then you're improving, but you still have a long way to go. There's twenty-one in all in this array, but it's still not working like I wanted. There's a chakra flow problem in arrays seven through fourteen."

Naruto knelt down beside him. While he was nowhere near as skilled as his brother he knew some with form his lessons and did his best to follow the arrays, "Sorry Nii-chan, after five I can't follow."

Kenta nodded, "Yea no problem, I'm still years away from finishing it anyway and it has to be perfect."

"What's it meant for anyway?" Sayaka asked looking at the intricate markings.

"It's a large scale chakra disruption array that focuses the effects of multiple arrays into a singular point and spreads the chakra out over a vast area removing all the chakra from the point their focused on. But I just can't get these connecting points to work in this array, each time I try the chakra in the centre isn't pulled far enough and by the time it reaches a certain point it's stretched too thin to be pulled further apart. It's so troublesome." Kenta said scratching the back of his head.

"Hey, that's my line." spoke a voice from above them making the trio look up blinking seeing both Shikamaru Nara and Chōji Akimichi up in the tree branches above them, The Nara lying back lounging around and Chōji munching on a bag of potato chips.

Kenta quirked an eyebrow, "How'd you get up there? Wouldn't it'd be too much effort for a Nara?", Kenta smirked.

Shikamaru sighed, "It's so I can relax in peace without being disturbed."

Kenta chuckled, "More like fall asleep. Don't you sleep enough in class?"

Shikamaru looked to him, "I could say the same to you."

Kenta shrugged, "I hate repetitive lessons, but then such is the pain of learning ahead of the masses. Perhaps we could do something productive in class instead of sleeping? You play shogi?"

Shikamaru seemed to smirk, "Yea I do, what about it."

Kenta grinned, "I'll bring my board tomorrow and we'll see who's better, it would pass the time and give us both something do so besides sleep."

Shikamaru paused for a second before answering as he measured Kenta up before nodding, "Sure why not it couldn't be more boring than the lessons themselves."

Kenta smirked slightly pleased that there was another possible ally. He'd need to be on good terms with his fellow shinobi, he'd already measured the worth of the rest of the class on the first day and could tell without some major improvements that less than half of them wouldn't reach Genin the first time. So the more guys he had watching his back the better.

Looking back to his array Kenta paused trying to figure out the solution to its chakra flow problem, but paused when a shadow blocked the sun and shadowed over him and his work. He recognized the scent instantly and when he looked up it was confirmed: Kiba Inuzuka and his partner Akamaru.


	6. Chapter 6

**Time for a new chapter guys, hope you all enjoy, drop a review and let me know =)**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Kenta internally sighed seeing the pair, he'd planned on talking with Kiba later on and try to fix the problems the spar yesterday had obviously caused, although it seems as though the young Inuzuka had different plans.

"Hello Kiba-san, is there something I can help you with?" Kenta asked in a friendly tone hoping to defuse the situation before it could start.

Kiba glared at him, "I want a rematch." Kiba growled out angrily getting different looks from the others who heard him.

Sayaka looked at him like he was joking, Naruto was much the same. Kenta had a neutral look as he had already guessed that's what he wanted. While up in the tree Chōji eating his crisps had a neutral expression of his own watching things unfold, and Shikamaru sighed hearing the declaration as he rolled his eyes.

"Kiba, you couldn't even touch him yesterday. What's fighting him again going to do, except make you lose again." Shikamaru commented from his perch.

Kiba's eyes shot to Shikamaru and he growled in his throat, "Shut the hell up Nara, this has nothing to do with you so back off. This is between me and Uzumaki."

Kenta sighed as he closed his pad up and plugged the Ink jar before he started to wipe and wash the ink from the brush, "Settle down Kiba-san, there's no need to be hostile. If you want a rematch simply see Iruka-san about it and I'm sure he'd be willing to arrange another sparr between us in our next Taijutsu session."

Kiba looked back to Kenta and growled more, taking his calm attitude as an offence like he was partly ignoring him or not taking him seriously, "Not like that Uzumaki, I mean a real rematch with no restrictions." Kiba snapped.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes from his perch again, "So basically you want to fight Kenta-san in a non-sanctioned spar, you're just asking for trouble."

Kenta sealed his pad, ink, and brush away and sighed, this wasn't how he was planning things to go down. He knew that if he agreed to this then that could possibly mean he'd have to reveal more of his abilities than he'd originally planned to. He knew that Kiba's style would be more formidable with his clan's Jutsu and his partner by his side, which was more than likely why he wanted it. His options were limited but he had only his self to blame.

"Fine then." was Kenta's response as he stood up, "I can tell you aren't going to take no for an answer so I may as well give you what you want." he finished explaining as he stood up and looked to Kiba.

The second Kenta stood up Kiba felt slightly uneasy, the whole time Kenta hadn't been intimidated by his tone or him in the slightest and now Kiba could see why he was a good four inches taller, those inches made a hell of a difference and made Kenta quite intimidating. But he had been the one to make the challenge and he couldn't back out of it now as they both headed to the middle of the yard for the fight.

The other students had started to notice the commotion and started to watch the two walk to the middle of the yard as word got around what was happening, up in the classroom Iruka had noticed the commotion in the yard and started to look out to see that Kenta and Kiba were at the centre, it didn't take a genius to work out what it was about. Normally he would have stopped it before it began but there was a something nagging at the back of Iruka's mind to let it go on, he wanted to see just what Kenta was capable of in a full fight and short of fighting Kenta himself this was the next best way.

As Kiba and Kenta stood apart facing each other in the middle of the academy yard the other students started moving back from the pair giving them room, mostly because they didn't want to get caught up in the fight that was about to happen.

Taking his hands out of his pockets Kenta sighed, "Just remember Kiba-san, you were the one who asked for this." he said in a loud enough tone for all to hear, he knew if an instructor came and stopped the fight chances are they would both get into trouble but at least now Kiba would get into more trouble for being the instigator.

Kiba started to growl as Akamaru jumped from his head taken a stance and growled as well, "Prepare to lose, no one disgraces an Inuzuka and gets away with it."

Kenta smirked, "If anyone is disgracing anything it's you griping over your injured pride, there's no disgrace in losing to a superior opponent."

Kiba snarled, "You would know better than me!" he yelled as both he and Akamaru sprinted at Kenta before both jumped and started spinning at high speeds their motions turning into blurs, **"Gatsūga" (Fang Over Fang)** Kiba yelled in the blind speed heading at Kenta with Akamaru alongside him.

Kenta smirked seeing the attacks coming as he raised his hands before he started running through a series of hand signs at a high-speed, something that caught a few eyes at his efficiency before he stopped and took in a deep breath getting wide-eyed looks from all around.

 ** _'_** ** _Fūton: Daburu Renkūdan' (wind release: Double Drilling Air Bullet)_** Kenta mentally called his attack before firing two, weakened, pressurised blasts of air from his mouth at his opponents spinning forms.

The attacks collided mid-air, the first knocking Akamaru out of his attack straight away the small pup not having enough mass behind him to fight the collision. However, Kiba's attack and the air bullet collided and connected for several seconds as sparks from the friction between the two attacks shot off before the air attack burst outwards knocking Kiba out of his attack with a yelp before he hit the ground his clothes a mess from the impact.

The reactions varied all over the yard from those watching on, the civilian students were watching on were shocked to see someone their age could do something like that, each of the clan children was watching with interest.

Shino who was watching from over to the side was making notes of the fight interested in the fight due to what his insects had told him about Kenta that from what they could tell he was stronger that what he had been showing.

Hinata was watching the fight close to the main building her eyes wide seeing the fight, seeing how strong Kenta was, came as a partial shock, after hearing Naruto go on about how strong his brother was she had some expectations of his abilities but those were blown away by the sudden attack, now she didn't know what to think other than being impressed.

Shikamaru watching from his perch had his interest peaked slightly, he could tell that Kenta was different from the other civilians enrolled at the academy and that he was most likely the strongest in the class. A fact that was no doubt annoying some, and then there had been his fight with Mizuki the day before he could see that Mizuki clearly had a vendetta against the Uzumaki brothers. He'd noticed the switch with the matches as well, but he couldn't tell what it was all about.

Chōji for his part was watching the fight eagerly eating his chip and enjoying the show.

Naruto was watching on with pride in his Nii-chan. He had no doubt his brother was going to win, but he was wincing slightly knowing that Kenta had not wanted to use his Jutsu or show off his skills and attract attention. It looked like things weren't going as planned.

Sayaka was watching the match eagerly she knew Kenta would come out on top and watched with great interest. Even though they trained together, the only real sparrs they had were Taijutsu only never full on fights, Kenta had always refused. Now she could see why that attack would have hurt.

Ino and Sakura were over to the side on the other side watching as well, both were shocked seeing Kenta's Jutsu both were having similar thoughts along the lines of what Naruto had said the day before in class about beating his older brother and they couldn't help but laugh at the idea of the blond achieving such an act. But both looked to Sasuke with heart eyes and both had the same thought, 'but Sasuke could definitely do it'

Sasuke was watching the fight with an ever deepening scowl he'd enraged at losing to the red head and was planning to take what was rightfully his by doing what Kiba had done, by challenging the Uzumaki to a fight. He was sure the fight had only been a fluke and was determined to beat the Uzumaki no matter what his whore of a Kaa-san said on the matter, which had been many things after she had been informed of the acts that had transpired after Sasuke had been sorely beaten and embarrassed. Her words had only enraged him more; although he knew to hide his rage, or else risk getting disowned before he could become strong enough to become clan head. Such an act would greatly limit his growth without access to the Uchiha Jutsu archives, something that would be a great resource when he finally activated his Sharingan. The fact that Kenta could perform such a Jutsu mattered little to him when he compared it to the Jutsu that could be found in the clan archives, for now, all he had to do was bide his time and wait. Although that was proving difficult when Sasuke kept noticing how close Kenta and his sister were, such a fact might become a problem later on for him should their Kaa-san take a liking to the red head as well.

After Kiba's attack had ended Kenta frowned, _'Great I've had to reveal one of my Jutsu because of this, I can't use anymore now, I'll have to end this shortly'_ Kenta thought to himself as he watched Kiba get to his feet shooting him a glare, "So that's the Inuzuka clan's **Gatsūga (Fang Over Fang)** , it's an impressive attack and when used in pairs I can see how it would be effective in a fight, although I think yours could use some work." Kenta called out as his frown turned into a smirk egging Kiba on again like he had done so in the sparr before wanting him to attack again and tire himself out.

Kiba growled "Shut up we'll tear you to shreds," Kiba yelled as he started running, "let's go Akamaru." he called back as his partner quickly joined him with an agreed bark before the started spinning again **"Gatsūga" (Fang Over Fang)** ,

Seeing the attack coming again Kenta frowned, _'Is that the only Jutsu they know?'_ Kenta pondered seeing the tunnelling twisters coming at him again as he took a second to weigh his options on whether to counter again or dodge, before leaping back as the attacks came in deciding to dodge and not waste any more chakra on Jutsu.

As Kenta leaped back out of the way he watched as both attacks continued on and made contact with the spot he'd just been standing in, as they moved away Kenta could see the large deep slash mark they both left in the ground in an X pattern, making Kenta's eyes widen slightly, "Ok, maybe it's not lacking in power." he said still in his jump, "But I hope you can do more than just this." he said watching as the two twisters shot into the air after hitting the ground before both of them suddenly pulled almost complete one eighty degree turns as they both shot at him at high speeds making Kenta's eyes widen further, 'Shit' was all he could think before he had to think fast as he reached for the handle of his sword and pulled it from its belt form and thrust it in whip-form colliding with the two twisters as sparks flew off on impact before knocking them away.

Kenta landed on the ground his sword now straight as he let out a breath, "Damn that was close, I didn't think I'd actually have to draw my sword in this fight, you're better than you look." Kenta complemented Kiba as he landed.

Kiba growled as he narrowed his glare on Kenta, "You ain't seen nothing yet, we're just getting started, right buddy." Kiba said getting a yip in approval from his partner.

Kenta smirked, "Well as much as I'd love to continue this little fight, I'd rather not show off all my skills on the second day. So I think I'm going to end this now." he said as he raised his left hand forming half a ram sign before muttering under his breath.

Kiba growled, "Don't be so cocky, I'm still going to kick your b…" he started to say before Kenta vanished from sight, or at least he did for the students. Kiba's eyes started darting all over the place in front of him trying to find where he'd gone, "Where the hell did you..." He started to speak before a voice behind him made him jump.

"Over here." Kenta's voice came making Kiba turn to see him placing his sword back around his waist and forming a half ram sign again.

Kiba growled, "Giving up?" he asked angrily watching his opponent.

Kenta smirked, "No just packing up, this fight is mine." Kenta explained his hand still in a half ram sign.

Kiba gritted his teeth at Kenta's words, "Like hell it is you bastard..." he started and he went to move to attack, only for Kenta to shoot a sideways glance at him when he suddenly felt his entire body stiffen up and the next thing Kiba knew was that he fell flat on his face unable to move a single muscle from his neck down, "What the hell, I-I can't move!"

The sudden declaration caused mutters and whispers start traveling around all the watching students who had seen the fight and couldn't tell what was going on, the only one who did was Iruka who was watching from the classroom window and was shocked at Kenta's speed and movements, he almost missed what Kenta had done, and had only just caught the last part of it.

Slowly Kenta turned and started walking towards Kiba, making the Inuzuka gulp. He was completely defenceless this guy could do anything, even kill him and there was nothing he could do to stop him.

Akamaru moved in front of his master and started growling at Kenta who kept approaching regardless of the small pups angry snarls until he was standing right over the top of them both his shadow stretching over them.

Kenta's hand reached for his hip pouch, the sudden action made Kiba gulp thinking the other boy was going for a weapon, Akamaru got ready to attack and defence his master with his life as Kenta opened the pouch with a single finger, then suddenly Akamaru stopped growling and sniffed the air as a familiar scent caught his attention.

Slowly Kenta knelt down as he reached into his pouch and took something out before holding out his closed hand slowly in front of Akamaru opening it showing the small dog meat treats.

Sniffing the air slowly Akamaru started walking over to Kenta's hand and started to sniff the treats, Kiba's eyes widened, "Akamaru stay back they could be..." Kiba started to say but didn't finish when Akamaru looked to Kenta with a curious gaze.

Kenta smiled at the young pups look and chuckled, "It's ok, go ahead." he said with a smile getting a resounding pleasing yelp from the small pup before it started eating the treats out of Kenta's hand.

The action brought Kiba back as his eyes widened as he watched his partner take to this other boy, such a thing had never happened before, _'Akamaru has never let anyone outside of the clan feed him before, what's with this guy'_ , Kiba thought as he watched Akamaru eat from Kenta's hand and even let the other boy scratch behind the pups ears as it eats.

Once Akamaru had finished he let a pleased yip and bark in thanks, Kenta nodded in understanding with a friendly smile, before he looked to the still paralyzed Kiba who was watching in shock and uncertainty, before Kenta sighed and rubbed the back of his head shaking it, before he spoke, "Look I'm sorry about yesterday." he said shocking Kiba slightly, "I didn't mean to hurt your pride, I got caught up in the moment and wanted to show off, and at the same time not hurt anyone. Well, all but Sasuke, but he had it coming. However, I'm seeing that did more harm than good with you, so I'm sorry if me not seeming like I was taking you seriously in our spar was insulting, I was just trying to have fun I didn't mean it." he said frowning as he stood up, "If you want I could give you a hand training, I can see you're strong, and I'm sure Akamaru here won't mind the extra company." Kenta said getting a yip in agreement from the small pup.

Kiba didn't respond the whole time he just looked down like he was deep in thought, Kenta sighed scratching his head, "Well at least think about it." he said before reaching down and taking something off Kiba's back and holding it up to reveal it was a piece of paper with black marking on it, "You should be able to move again now, it's a paralysis tag, my own invention, short range but effective enough to put someone down without harming them. No hard feelings." Kenta said holding out his hand for shaking as Kiba started to get up.

Kiba looked at the hand as he got to his knee and paused in thought, _'Akamaru doesn't trust easy and this guy seems alright if a bit of an arrogant ass',_ Kiba thought before sighing and giving Kenta a smirk before taking his hand, "Sure."

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was the end of the academy day and everyone was heading their separate ways, Kenta had said goodbye to Sayaka and Naruto inside saying he was going to get some evening training in and that he'd see them later. A fact that Kiba had overheard and started wondering just what kind of training Kenta did in order to become so strong.

Deciding to find out as they walked out of the school gates Kiba ran to catch up with Kenta, "Hey Uzumaki, where are you heading?" Kiba called coming up behind the redhead.

Kenta stopped to let Kiba catch up before giving a smirk, "Just heading off for some evening training, the academy is a little too light on the physical aspects for my liking." Kenta explained.

Kiba scoffed, "Tell me about it. Hey you mind if we join you in your training?" Kiba asked as Akamaru yipped.

Kenta paused for a moment smirking at the request before chuckling, "Sure I don't mind, and just as long as the pair of you can keep up that is. My kind of training most would consider extreme."

Kiba grinned at the underlying challenge in his tone, "What's that supposed to mean, you think we can't hack it?"

Kenta smirked before turning and continued to walk on, "I guess we'll just have to see then won't we." he said as Kiba followed eager to get started, something that wouldn't last too long.

* * *

 **Time skip- Inuzuka compound**

Three hours later the door to the main Inuzuka house opened and Kiba fell flat on the ground as soon as the door opened, his legs like jelly from the training, no torture that he'd just endured.

"How, the hell, can he call that a warm up, it lasted three straight hours." Kiba said out loud in a strained voice as Akamaru whined in agreement collapsed on Kiba's head.

Kiba lay there on the ground for a few second too weak to move as he heard a door opening before the sound of a familiar laughter filled his ears.

"Ha-ha-ha, what happened, you two look like you just ran the nation of fire's borders twice." the voice spoke in fits of laughter.

With a groan, Kiba tilted his head to see his elder sister, Hana, leaning on the doorway to another room laughing her ass off at him. She was dressed in her Chūnin uniform, a green form-fitting Chūnin flak jacket, the top of which was open showing her slight cleavage and the fact she wore nothing beneath it, and a pair of form-fitting shorts cut just above the knee, her long brown hair as always was combed back into a tight ponytail with two strands left hanging off her forehead framing her face next to her red fang markings on her cheeks.

Pulling himself to the wall and leaning on it with any strength he had left Kiba groaned, "That might actually be shorter than what I actually did, but if not it must have been close." Kiba said trying to rest.

That statement got Hana's attention, as she looked at the exhausted form of her Otōto, he'd clearly been training but she'd never seen him this exhausted even when their Kaa-san trained him, but before she could ask more another voice filled the hallway.

"So this is where I find you, glad to see you're upping your own training, but it would be best if you did it inside the clan perimeters so we can find you next time." their Kaa-san's voice was heard as she came in the front door with her partner Kuromaru by her side.

"I would have Kaa-san," Kiba said getting his breath back finally, "but I was training with Uzumaki, and I didn't know if you'd allow him in the compound."

Tsume paused to look at her son seeing his state of exhaustion and smirked, "I see, well whatever training you were doing seems to be working, you look like hammered dog shit."

Hana laughed at their Kaa-san's joke and smirked, "Couldn't have said it better myself."

Kiba groaned, "Not funny Kaa-san, Nee-chan." he said as he rested his head on the wall to tired to complain further.

Hana chuckled, "So what brought on this training then, I would have thought Kaa-san would be drilling you into the ground enough in training, you a glutton for pain or what?"

Kiba shook his head in defeat but before he could answer their Kaa-san did it for him, "He lost in a one on one spar yesterday to the older Uzumaki boy, he didn't have Akamaru with him and couldn't use our clan Jutsu."

The news made Hana raise an eyebrow looking at their Kaa-san, losing to a non-clan child regardless of the circumstances was a serious blow, she was shocked their Kaa-san hadn't torn Kiba a new ass hole for losing. However now this was bringing up some other questions why hadn't she done just that, and if this Uzumaki boy was stronger than Kiba in a Taijutsu spar, just how strong was he, "Well I could see how that could be understandable," Hana said looking to her younger brother, "don't worry shrimp you'll beat him next time."

Kiba looked down and sighed, "There's already been the next time." he said in a low tone making both women look to him, "I was sure I'd win and challenged him in a no-rules-fight, I went at him full force not holding back at all, but he still beat me, both of us with, he made it look easy."

Hana's eyes widened hearing that and she looked to their Kaa-san the second she heard it and gulped, her eyes were narrowed and her fists clenched and she could hear a low growl coming from her, losing once with restrictions would have been bad enough but losing a second time in a fight without them there was no excuse he could use this time. But much to Hana's shock the anger in the Inuzuka matriarch tapered slightly as she looked to calm down even if it was just barely, before she spoke, "Start talking pup." well it was more of a low growl or snap than anything else.

* * *

 **Time skip**

After his Kaa-san's order to talk, Kiba sang like a bird explaining everything that happened in the fight, how he'd challenged Kenta to the one on one, how he'd attacked first and Kenta had countered with an elemental Jutsu the first time and dodged the second time, and how his speed had suddenly gone beyond what he could track before he was able to plant that paper on him that paralyzed him, all of this had both Inuzuka women listening intently, but the thing that caught their attention the most was that Akamaru had eaten out of Kenta's hand, such an act wasn't to be taken lightly Inuzuka Ninken were extremely loyal and every well trained even at a young an age as Akamaru was and doing such a thing meant that Akamaru saw him as trustworthy, adding on to that the fact that he was able to defeat Kiba so easily, he was starting to peek both women's interests.

Now more docile after hearing the play by play Tsume spoke, "So what did you learn from training with him, did you figure out where you were lacking in your own?"

Kiba frowned, "I learned what he calls training, I call insane. Just for a warm up, he did forty laps of the village perimeter at full speed."

That statement made them look at Kiba wide-eyed, the village spanned ten kilometres, the outer wall was over sixty kilometres from one end to the other, running something like that at their age was insane.

Hana whistled impressed, "Kid's got stamina I'll give him that."

"Indeed" Tsume sounded in agreement, "and with Akamaru's trust also, this Kenta is starting to intrigue me, using elemental Jutsu at his age, his feats keep growing, I think I'd like to meet this one."

"You wanna meet him?" Kiba repeated in shock at their Kaa-san's words as both he and Hana looked at her in slight shock as the Matriarch nodded.

"That's what I said, this young pup keeps sounding more interesting, bring him here tomorrow after class, I want to test his metal myself." Tsume said showing a bit of fang in a grin.

"Um, ok." Kiba agreed still slumped on the floor leaning against the wall as he looked up to his mother.

Tsume nodded, "Good," she said before looking to her partner, "Kuromaru, mind dragging these two to their room, I don't think they'd be able to get their otherwise, and we can't have them sleep in the hall."

The wolf-like hound nodded, "Right." he spoke as he moved to Kiba and Akamaru and caught Kiba's hood in his teeth and started to pull the two away much to their groaning at being moved.

Once they were around the corner Hana looked to her Kaa-san, "are you thinking what I think you're thinking about this Uzumaki boy?" she asked seeing a look in her eye.

Tsume gave her daughter a smirk, "Perhaps, he certainly sounds like he'd be up for the challenge." she said as she started to walk to the kitchen.

Hana followed her mother, "But if no child of out clan can do it, what makes you think an outsider can?" Hana asked knowing what her Kaa-san was referring to.

Tsume shrugged, "It might be precisely that reason that he can," she said as she went to open the door, "besides you heard what Kiba said, he's got plenty of stamina just think what it will be like when he's older. Besides it won't be long till you'll be needing an alpha, I can't wait for grand pups to spoil forever you know." she said as she laughed walking into the kitchen leaving a blushing beet red Hana in the hallway.

"Kaa-chan!"

* * *

 **Next day- Inuzuka compound front gates**

Both Kiba and Kenta entered through the compound gates, Kenta looking around very impressed by what he saw, at first there had only been trees on the other side of the walls but they soon parted to show the multitude of houses, with a larger main house being divided off from the others, along with a large area of the compound, by a second wall.

Kenta gave an impressed whistle, "So this is your clan's compound, very nice." Kenta said as he looked around again, "Plenty of space to train and sparr, I can certainly see its benefits." he finished as they came out of the forest pathway to open terrain, Kenta looked to Kiba, "So why'd you ask me to come over, if you want another sparr I wouldn't mind giving you one although I'd have to ask it only be Taijutsu?"

Kiba looked at Kenta rubbing the back of his head; "Well you see the thing is…" he started before a second voice broke the air.

"Actually," spoke the voice making both boys turn to see Tsume coming out of the forest area Kuromaru at her side, "I was the one who asked my son to bring you here." she explained as she walked towards them.

Kenta's eyes narrowed slightly seeing the sudden appearance of a new face as he began to put the facts together, she called Kiba her son that would make her his Kaa-san and given who Kiba was mean she was Tsume Inuzuka, Kenta quickly weighed her up as he'd been trained and taught how to do when unknowns came into play, _'Middle aged female, roughly five four, a hundred pounds maybe slightly more, no visible weapons although given experience and age may be concealed'_ Kenta thought before looking to the dog at her side, _'Singular eye and ear, possible blind spots, size could be a problem, assessment, approach with extreme caution speak with respect'_

As Tsume approached them she raised an eyebrow slightly seeing the boy she'd heard about, his red hair certainly was striking, and he was a lot taller than she was expecting, and when she saw him looking at her she could tell from his gaze exactly what he was doing, _'Gauging my threat level, impressive, whoever was training this one did their job right, let's see how right though'_ Tsume thought with a smirk. "So this is the young pup that's been bouncing your butt all over the academy yard, ay Kiba." she voiced as she was still a bit away from them.

Kenta's eyes shifted to Kiba for a second, _'So he told his Kaa-san about me, I wonder what she wants from me'_ he started to think before he turned his gaze back to Tsume and spoke "good evening, Tsume-Sama, it's a pleasure to meet the head of the Inuzuka clan, may I ask as to why…" Kenta started to speak but before he could finish his sentence Tsume disappeared in a burst of speed. Causing Kenta's eyes to widen as he reacted.

Tsume reappeared as a Kunai slipped out of her sleeve and she grabbed it in a reverse grip and raised it to Kenta's throat with speed. As she reappeared in front of him, Kenta didn't even flinch before he spoke.

"Tsume-sama, please remove your kunai from my throat," Kenta requested like it was the most casual thing in the world as his eyes and hers met before Kenta's gaze hardened before he spoke again, "or I'm afraid things might get unpleasant.", he said in a threatening tone.

Tsume smirked at the hidden threat and was about to retort before a glimmer of light caught her eye making her look down and what she saw made her rethink her statement. Kenta had pulled his sword already and had it pointed at an angle ready to pierce her heart and end her in a heartbeat, before she looked back to Kenta and gave a wide grin, _'Oh he's been trained very well, very well indeed'_ she thought, "You've got balls of steel boy, not even flinching when a superior opponent bares down on you, some would call that foolish.", she joked still with her kunai to his throat.

Kenta's face didn't betray what he was feeling as he spoke, "I call it fight or flight, I can see we are both fighters." he reasoned not budging from his stance.

Tsume's grinned widened as she approved of the boy more and more, "And both alphas of our own packs, not many have the stones to speak to me like that."

"Not many are like me." was all Kenta replied with as they both stood still in deadlock.

Kiba stood watching the exchange in shock, he knew his Kaa-san wanted to meet Kenta but to do it like this was bordering on dangerous. But watching Kenta he was surprised to see he hadn't even moved when his Kaa-san came at him but instead drew his sword before having a conversation while they were in a deadlock. If it were between anyone else Kiba would call it a face down between two Alphas, which he knew his mother was, but for Kenta to be able to hold his ground like that and not back down made him gulp at the tension between the two of them.

After several more seconds Tsume's grin began to grow even wider before she burst out laughing taking her kunai away from Kenta's throat, "Damn, I knew to expect something, but I didn't think to expect this. Whoever trained you kid has done one heck of a job, most your age would wet themselves in a situation like that one"

Kenta's gaze softened as he smirked, "I'll be sure to pass on your compliments to my sensei, I'm sure he'll be glad his methods are working." Kenta said as he returned his sword to his waist, "Now let's get to the point, for what purpose did you have Kiba-san bring me here?"

Tsume smirked, "Two reasons, firstly I wanted to see first-hand the kind of man that was able to trounce my youngest pup not once but twice, so I wanted to test your metal myself and see if you were as capable as everything I've heard." she explained as Kuromaru joined her, "The second reason was dependent on my judgement of you, if you were a pussy I'd have just kicked you out, but as your clearly not I have a favour to ask that I hope you'll accept." she said as she gestured for them both to follow them.

* * *

 **Time skip**

After several minutes walking through the compound, they came to a large stone door on the side of a man-made hill, pushing the door open the four of them started to walk inside and down the steps for a few meters.

As they walked Kiba was wondering why they were here as he looked to his Kaa-san, "Kaa-san why are we here? This is the…" he started but was interrupted by Tsume.

"All will be explained shortly pup." was all she said as they finally came to the inner doors and pushed them open revealing the dimly lit area in front of them, the only light was that of the torches around the room.

The ground was dirt covered and there were large stone pillars around the room with wooden torches illuminating the room, except for the far portion of the room which was mostly in shadows, Kenta was about to speak when the sounds of snarling echoed through the room from the shadows.

Hearing the sounds Akamaru quickly jumped down from Kiba's head and started growling himself in defence of his master, who was currently confused hearing the snarls, "What the?" he said before looking to his Kaa-san, "There shouldn't be any Ninken down here, what's…"Kiba started to ask before stopping seeing his Kaa-san's rather stoic expression as she looked at Kenta who seemed to be looking at the shadows with interest before looking to Tsume himself.

"Tsume-sama, is there a point to all this, and bringing me here?" Kenta asked as his mind ran through several situations but he wanted clarification before he spoke further.

Tsume nodded, "Yes." she said before pointing to the shadows, "That pup, for the last three months has refused to take any Inuzuka as it's partner, all of the young pups are afraid to go near it because it attacks anyone that goes near it, and for the young who have had very little experience with Ninken aside from their parents partners it can be a frightening experience." she said before looking to Kenta with interest, "After hearing of your victories over Kiba, not just once but twice, I thought perhaps you would be able to tame its restless spirit, it needs a partner now as it's close to the final date of its first year, if it doesn't have a bond formed with its partner by then it will go wild and we will have no choice but to put it down."

Kiba hearing this looked to his Kaa-san in shock, "But Kaa-san, I thought our laws only permitted clansmen to have Ninken, giving one to an outside, even one as strong as Kenta, do you think he can handle a Ninken?"

Tsume nodded, "Clan laws allow for exceptions to be made by the Clan alpha, and I believe Kenta is more than capable of it, and should the pup accept him it will save it from being destroyed."

Kenta listened to them talking as he looked into the shadows on the far side of the room, he could make out the small form of the pup pacing just beyond where the shadows started, he could make out its eyes and its small form, the thing that struck Kenta first was its eyes, the right one was ice blue and the other was a deep golden red, next was the fact that it was completely black from head to tail.

Taking a breath Kenta nodded, "Alright then." he spoke getting both Kiba and Tsume's attention as he started walking at a steady pace towards the shadows.

The movement made the small pup stop pacing before it faced Kenta, snarling at the approaching intruder, it bore its teeth and claws as it arched its back ready to attack.

As Kenta reached the five meter mark just before the shadows Kenta saw the small pup shift it's weight before he reacted and ducked and the small pup leaped out of the shadows and lunged for Kenta who ducked under the small pup that soared over his head and landed on the ground and swerved around growling again at Kenta.

It was then that Kenta could see the small pup clearly in the light for the first time, it wasn't like Akamaru, or at least not in the same breed, it's body, head and ears more closely resembled that of Kuromaru, and it wasn't all black as Kenta had first thought, there was a grey streak of fur running through its right blue eye.

After taking a second to turn to face it again Kenta took another step forward, the small pup reacted by getting ready to attack again letting out a low growl as a warning to Kenta to back off, which Kenta ignored and took another step forward, and another and another until Kenta was standing a meter in front of the small pup that was will growling at him.

Kenta paid no heed to the growling as he lowered himself to a squat in front of the growling pup that had yet to attack again. After a moment of watching the small pup, Kenta held out his hand over the small pup his fingers in for safety as he began to move it closer to the small pup.

The closer he got the deeper the small pup growled out and started to lower itself away from the hand as it got closer, but with an inch between the pup and the hand, suddenly the small pup closed its eyes and cowered away from the hand in fright as it was about to make contact as it let out small whimpers of fright.

A small smile peaked on Kenta's lips as he gently placed his hand on the little pups head feeling its soft fur coat as he gently pets its head as he hushed the small pup, "Shhhh, Shhhh, it's alright I'm not going to hurt you." Kenta spoke is a soft gentle tone as he gently rubbed the small pups head.

Hearing the soothing voice slowly the small pup stopped shaking and slowly opened its eyes as it felt the warmth of the hand on its head, as Kenta lifted his hand away and held it out open in front of the pup he smiled, "It's ok little one, no reason to be scared see." he said with a gentle smile as slowly the small pup started sniffing at his hand before it licked his fingertips making him chuckle at the action.

Back with Tsume and Kiba, Kiba was watching with an open jaw and Tsume burst out laughing, "Well I'll be damned, the kid actually pulled it off, guess there's a first for everything."

Slowly Kenta lifted the small pup up cradling it in his arms and started back to the smirking Tsume and the awestruck Kiba looking at him with astonishment.

"Well, it looks like everything is going to be fine with this little fella." Kenta smirked holding the small pup as it rubbed into the crook of Kenta's arm

Tsume smirked, "Well it seems that you two will get on just fine." she said before turning, "Come on Kiba's sister can give him a check-up before we have him registered as your partner."

Kenta nodded as they all started back up the stairs out of the building, as the small pup yawned in Kenta's arms making him and Kiba smirk. "Sleepy are you Midnight? Well, you can rest after you get the all clear from Kiba's sister. Enjoy it while you can because tomorrow training starts and I gotta get you up to my level if we're going to be fighting alongside each other."

Both Tsume and Kiba looked to Kenta with raised eyes, ""Midnight?"" they both asked for clarification.

Kenta smirked, "Yea, that's what his fur reminds me of, the Midnight sky, plus it sounds cool too." Kenta said with a smirk getting a Yip of approval from the small pup.

Tsume smirked, "Well it sounds like he likes it, Midnight it is then."

Kiba chuckled, "Good luck with training with him, it will take you ages to get him up to par with mine and Akamaru's teamwork."

Kenta smirked, "Oh yeah Kiba, I bet me and Midnight could trounce you and Akamaru after I've got him trained up a bit. I seem to recall being able to kick both your backsides myself, with Midnight helping I'll be able to do it twice as fast."

Tsume laughed hearing that, "Something's telling me you can already do it ten times faster by yourself, if what I spotted on your wrists are any indication." she mentioned shooting Kenta a knowing smirk.

Kenta's eyes widened as he looked at his wrists and saw his gloves had slipped and some of the weight seals were showing, that caught Kiba's attention as well.

"Hey, what's up with your wrists dude?" Kiba asked looking at the marking as Kenta covered them up, "That's a strange place to get inked."

Kenta looked at Kiba with a deadpan stare, "Your saying ink on the wrists is wearied, dude? Your entire clan's got two red fangs on their cheeks." he said in an are-you-stupid manner making Tsume and Kuromaru smirk as Kiba rubbed the back of his head sheepishly realising his own stupidity.

Tsume shook her head, "Plus, they ain't tattoos pup, they're weight seals, channelling chakra into them is like putting on training weights before training, I haven't seen them used in quite a while, got any more?"

Kenta frowned, "I'd rather not say, my training is meant to be secret, Tsume-sama I hope you can understand."

The Inuzuka matriarch nodded her head, "Fair enough pup, I was just curious when Kiba informed me of your fight the other day, about how you formed a hand sign before your speed suddenly increase I figured you were releasing something, I just wanted to know if I was right."

Kenta nodded, "I won't tell you what seals, but yes your hypothesis is correct, I was releasing them partially before I attacked, I wanted to end our fight quickly and without harming an ally. To use any of my other techniques might have done so, and the longer the fight went on the more I'd have to show, as it stands I didn't want to have to use any of my Jutsu but the fight forced my hand."

Kiba chuckled as they walked in through the main house wall rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Eh, sorry about that by the way."

Kenta shook his head, "Forget about it what's done is done." he said as they walked into the house.

As they walked into the house they were met by three smaller pups each of them had the same grey fur with white undersides and short pointed ears, all barking excitedly, all of them came up to the height of Kenta's waist and started to sniff around the newcomer as he entered the house.

Kenta raised an eyebrow seeing them and looked to Tsume, "Triplets?" he asked in a subtle question getting a smirk from the matriarch as she nodded as a new voice answered.

"Good eye, most would just think they were of the same litter." spoke the female voice as its owner came through one of the side doors in the hallway, as Hana appeared now dressed in her veterinary uniform consisting of longer pants and a pale high collared shirt that flared out in a cone around the lower part of her neck that Kenta recognized as the standard medical uniform for most medical practicing shinobi after Sayaka had shown him one time in the past.

Kenta smiled, "Well given that there's no age difference between them and the fact that their coats are practically identical it would be hard not to notice." Kenta said before holding his hand out to her, "Kenta Uzumaki."

Hana smirked back, "Very good eye then." she said taking the hand, "Hana." she replied as Midnight gave a small yip and yawn from Kenta's other arm getting a small smirk from Hana, "Well look who's finally out of the den, finally found someone who you won't take a bite out of then?" she said giving the small pup a smirk.

Kenta smirked, "Yea, Midnight was just frightened that was all, just putting on a brave face." Kenta said as he rubbed Midnights head gently.

Hana smiled at the scene, glad that he was being gentle with the small pup, she could see the two were made for each other and her Kaa-san had chosen wisely to allow Kenta to have her, Hana then smirked hearing him, "Midnight? A good name, from his coat's colour I take it?" Hana inquired.

Kenta nodded, "Yea." he said as he finished petting Midnight's head and looked to Hana, "Tsume-sama said about you giving him a check-up before I could take him back to my home."

Hana nodded, "Sure thing, come on, I'll give him a once over then you can go." she said as she gestured to the room behind her.

Kenta nodded and followed close behind her as the Triplets followed behind them.

* * *

 **Scene break**

After heading through the rather large living room which looked to be for entertaining guests, there was a door that lead out into a very well equipped veterinary clinic space, white walls and white tiles on the floor, the countertops, cabinets and storage spaces were all stainless steel, Kenta deduced it must have been that way to be easily kept clean and disinfected regularly.

In the middle of the room, there was a steel table with medical equipment below in its open shelves, Hana walked around the back of it and gestured to the table, "Place Midnight here and we'll get started."

Kenta nodded as he moved to the side of the table and set Midnight down on the table and Hana moved to start checking the small pup over as she moved between the table and an open folder on the bench behind her.

Kenta glanced to see what she was noting down and saw the detailed notes on everything from fur thickness to height changes and weight differences and muscle to fat ratio.

Hana caught the impressed look Kenta gave the notes and smirked, "We have to detail everything involving Ninken, and even the smallest changes can mean something of a more serious nature when returning to the village after a mission away. We keep them vaccinated from all known diseases, but the enemies can always come up with something new. There was a new strand of rabies ten years ago that cost the lived of five Ninken, a vaccine was made for it but after that my Kaa-san ordered new protocols on all record keeping involving Ninken or animal partners, it was made mandatory for all to be given complete physicals and bloods taken upon returning to the village as precautions." Hana said as she finished noting down the last of the notes, "The same will apply to Midnight here when you graduate the academy. After every mission outside of the village walls, you'll need to stop by the Inuzuka veterinary clinic in town." Hana said as she lifted Midnight up and handed her to Kenta, "Shinobi with Ninken partners, mainly Inuzuka, or any animal partners are given an hour extra time between missions for that exact purpose, courtesy of my Kaa-san pushing for such with Hokage-Sama."

Midnight getting back in Kenta's arms climbed onto his chest and started licking his chin and chest making him chuckle as tried to hold him back, Hana smiled at the scene, "He certainly seems very affectionate towards you already, I can tell you two are going to make a great team."

Kenta smirked, "Yea I can tell that too, but we gotta get our teamwork up first before we start fighting together, I don't want to risk him getting hurt until we know what we're doing." Kenta said as he gently petted the top of Midnight's head.

Hana smiled as she crossed her arms, "Well if you want I could talk with my Kaa-san and see if she would allow for me to teach you some of our clan's techniques since she allowed you to have Midnight as your partner it's worth a shot. At the very least she might allow me to give you some pointers on where to start, I could come by where you train tomorrow if you want and let you know her decision." Hana offered.

Kenta smirked, "Sure, I was planning on heading there tomorrow after class, I've got to give my Otōto some extra training, he got his butt kicked the other day in the Taijutsu tournament I was planning to start my training when I get his underway." Kenta said as Midnight settled into his flak jacket again, "We train in a small clearing just east of training ground twelve between the buildings and the shinobi library, follow the river and you'll come across it."

Hana nodded, "I'll do that." she said with a smile as she moved over and closed Midnight's folder, "Well that's that, he's all clear I'll see you there tomorrow after class is out."

Kenta nodded, "Thanks again." he said getting a yip from Midnight that Hana chuckled at before gesturing them to the door out.

As Hana watched the new pair leave she smiled feeling those two were practically made for each other and that they'd make a good team, she heard the door behind her open and a familiar female chuckle was heard.

"Well what do ya think, a little stud isn't he," Tsume said as she came into the room, "and you're meeting him tomorrow, I knew I decided right." Tsume laughed.

Hana groaned, "It's just for training, I was meant to ask if you'd allow me to show him some clan techniques seeing as he's going to be working with Midnight, it would be best I think." Hana reasoned as she moved to put the folder away.

Tsume shrugged, "I was going to suggest the same, I don't see a reason why not to, at the rate he's going I might as well make him an honorary Inuzuka right off the bat so you two can get to making me grand pups sooner." Tsume laughed.

Hana closed the filing cabinet, "You can't be serious." she said in shock as she turned around facing her mother, "He's only twelve and I just turned sixteen, I may have graduated early but he hasn't even been at the academy a week yet, what could he have done to impress you that much to even consider that."

Tsume smirked, "He didn't even flinch when I went at him, and what's more, he had the balls to draw a weapon on me at the same time, that's what." Tsume said as she crossed her arms, "Mark my words that kid is going to be something in the future, he's the makings of a real Alpha in him if you don't snag him someone else will, a pup like that doesn't come around every day. I only wish I had found one like him before I met your father, that's the only type of man an Inuzuka woman should accept, I thought that was your father but I was wrong, I don't want to see you make the same mistake I did and not have a man to warm you at night and to give you pups and happiness that you deserve." Tsume said as both she and Hana stood looking at each other in the serious atmosphere of the room before Tsume sighed and turned and walked to the door before stopping, "It doesn't have to be right away, just promise me that you'll try should you decide to, and fight when you do cause I can guarantee you won't be the only woman after that one." she said before walking out of the room leaving a silent Hana to her thoughts.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was an hour later and Kenta was walking down one of the side streets of the village with Midnight snuggling into his chest with the side of his snout making Kenta chuckle, "Ha-ha, you sure like to snuggle don't you? Well enjoy cause starting tomorrow we'll be training hard, I can't have my partner weak so I'll be pushing you till I'm sure you can keep up." Kenta said as he rubbed the small pups head that yipped in agreement with his plan. Kenta smiled at the small pup before sighing, "Well if I'm going to be your master and partner I'd better make sure to refresh my lessons on Ninken's so I know what I need to focus on for your training, Hana might be able to help with that tomorrow as well." Kenta said before he looked up to see the Hokage tower ahead of them, "Maybe Sensei will know something, I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees you, his and everyone else's." Kenta smirked before zipping up his flak jacket over Midnight and taking off heading to the Hokage tower.

* * *

 **A few minutes later Hokage's office**

Hiruzen was sitting behind his desk, his paperwork taken care of as he chuckled reading from his little orange book, "Oh, Jiraiya you are a genius." Hiruzen mused to himself as he read, only to be interrupted by the window to his office being opened and he quickly put the book away and looked to the window seeing Kenta hop in.

"Ah Kenta, I was wondering when I was going to be seeing you." Hiruzen said as he stood up to greet his student, "You didn't stop by the last two days."

Kenta rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry Sarutobi-sensei, I was busy with my training yesterday and Kiba invited me over to his clan's compound earlier. Tsume-sama wanted to meet me after I beat him in sparring and again in a fight."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Ah yes, I believe I heard about that from Anko after the fact minutes before Iruka came to inform me of such, rather showy of you wasn't it."

Kenta sighed, "More than I was originally wanting to yes, but after Kiba took my not fighting him with everything I had the first time as an insult he challenged me to a full fight. Turning him down would have made matters worse, and I kept it a brief as I could to avoid showing too much, one Jutsu was all I used as well as my speed for a brief second to get the drop on him."

Hiruzen nodded, "Yes, Anko reported as much, so what did Tsume wish to speak with you about, I can imagine she was intrigued by you beating her son as you did, twice I might add, I can't believe she was happy with Kiba for losing."

Kenta chuckled, "Well in her words she "wanted to see first-hand the kind of man" I was that could beat Kiba twice, and she did such by testing my nerves, rushing at me with a kunai ready to slit my throat, the test was to see how I would react, I think I passed ok."

Hiruzen chuckled, "Yes that sounds like something Tsume would do. Most Inuzuka women are brash like her and prefer the straightforward approach when it comes to most things so I've heard. So what did she do after this test?"

Kenta chuckled, "Well that's the thing…" Kenta started to say before a Yip came from his flak jacket and Midnight stuck his head out of Kenta's collar head butting him in the chin before shaking his head and giving a second yip as Kenta groaned rubbing his chin as he pulled down his jacket's zipper, "Ow, I kind of got a partner from them after."

Hiruzen chuckled seeing the little pup as he walked over to them, "I can see that, Tsume must have really taken a shine to you to have allowed such a thing." he said as he began petting the small pup.

Kenta chuckled, "I like to think I did, I named him Midnight and he seems to like it, I was going to begin our team training tomorrow after class, Hana will be coming by to help us out, but I just wanted to come by to introduce you to him and ask if you maybe have anything to help."

Hiruzen nodded, "I see, a fine name, but sadly I have nothing that will be of use to you, the Inuzuka are the specialists in that area so I think it would be best to wait until tomorrow and have Hana's lesson show you where to start." Hiruzen said as he finished petting the small pup and moved back to his desk, "I trust you were informed on the regulations involved with having a Ninken as a partner, to have them checked out after returning from missions."

Kenta nodded, "Yea, Hana told me about it while she was giving updating Midnight's medical records, there's a lot to account for with them, she told me about that stand of rabies that came in ten years back."

Hiruzen nodded, "Yes, that incident cost the Inuzuka five of their partners, Tsume was livid for months after. She was ready to ransack Kumo for their suspected involvement over the head of it all. All Inuzuka take their partner's safety very seriously, that's the reason they don't let just anyone have a Ninken as a partner."

Kenta smirked, "I guess I must have really impressed her then." he said rubbing the back of his head.

Hiruzen nodded, "Indeed, the majority of males in the village know to stay clear of Tsume, there's a reason she's one of the few female clan head in the village. No man can match her ferocity in combat, on top of which after her Ex-husband was caught trying to steal clan secrets and flee, she personally executed him as was her right as clan head." Hiruzen said going green at the memory.

Kenta cringed at the idea, "I take it she wasn't kind enough to give him a quick death." he asked regretting it.

Hiruzen shook his head, "No, it was a slow and painful one, but he was a traitor to both his clan and village and deserved to die for it." Hiruzen said before leaning back in his chair, _'Although having one's manhood flayed and peeled like an orange, and then left to bleed out, was extreme even by those standards',_ Hiruzen thought to himself as Kenta had taken the cue and went to leave as Hiruzen spoke, "I think it's safe to say you are one of the few men in the village who have stood their ground against that woman and lived to tell it, a feat in and of itself."

Kenta chuckled as he left while thinking, _'Yeah no shit it took everything I had at that very moment not to piss myself, she's scary as fuck.'_

* * *

 **Scene break**

Finally getting back to the apartments, Kenta started up the stairs to the second floor while Midnight nuzzled into his chest as Kenta chuckled, "You're definitely going to be a cuddlier aren't you." he laughed as he got to his door and took out the key to open the door.

Opening the door Kenta stepped inside to find his apartment empty, but he could hear voices next door in Naruto's apartment and smirked as he walked over opening the door to find the dining table had been moved over to clear some room for practice space as Naruto stood in his Taijutsu stance while Sayaka circled him looking over his stance.

"It's good but there's still some mistakes." Sayaka said before moving to him and pulling his arms lower and adjusting his footing, "There, now just keep your head lower and you'll be able to guard better and you're more stable." Sayaka explained not yet noticing Kenta.

Kenta chuckled in the doorway, "Good to see I wasn't the only one who thought Otōto's Taijutsu would use a little work?" Kenta said crossing his arms.

Sayaka chuckled, "Yea I figured I'd give him some pointers before you restart his training tomorrow, he's going to need it." Sayaka said not turning around still checking Naruto's stance, "So where'd you go after class, I looked the training ground you weren't there."

Kenta chuckled, "Yea sorry, but Kiba invited me over to the Inuzuka compound, apparently his Kaa-san wanted to see the kind of man I was, she also had a gift for me." he said before stopping before Sayaka finally turned to him.

"Oh, and what was the…" Sayaka started to say only to stop and blink seeing the small pup resting in the opening of his flak jacket as Midnight let out a small yip and blinked three times before Sayaka let out the most girlish scream of "Kawaii!" before rushing over to Kenta faster than he'd ever seen her move and snatched Midnight out of Kenta's flak jacket and proceeded to cuddling the small animal like a furry toy for half a minute, the whole time of which both Kenta and Naruto stood looking at her blinking at the sudden loss of composure Sayaka normally had, a fact that Sayaka only noticed after thirty seconds before she stopped cuddling and quickly placed the pup back with Kenta all the while blushing from embarrassment, and desperately tried to change the focus, "So Kenta-Kun, I suppose this means you'll be adding coordination training for yours and…" Sayaka started and then gestured to Midnight not knowing her name.

Kenta chuckled, "Midnight, and yes I'll need to get him up to par so that we can work together as a team." Kenta chuckled before looking to Naruto, "Looks like Otōto isn't the only one who needs training."

Sayaka giggled also, "Maybe we should get them both collars." Sayaka joked as both she and Kenta started laughing at Naruto's expense.

Naruto pouted in a huff at the joke as he crossed his arms, "Not funny Sayaka-nee, Nii-chan".

But both Sayaka and Kenta kept laughing much to Naruto's annoyance before a new voice joined the conversation from Kenta's apartment doorway, "What's not funny?" Anko asked as she walked in.

Kenta slowly stopped laughing as he whipped a stray tear away from his eye, "Oh we're just having a joke at Otōto's expense, we're thinking of getting him a collar." Kenta said before he started chuckling again "Now we're just debating colours and trying to decide on what the tag should say." Kenta said as he started laughing again.

Anko started chuckling at the joke, "Ha-ha-ha, better make that a flea collar while you're at it." she said as she joined in laughing.

Naruto starting to get annoyed at the jokes at his expense clenched his fists before yelling out, "I do not have fleas!" getting a Yip from Midnight in agreement.

Hearing the bark Anko stopped laughing and finally caught sight of the small pup in Kenta's jacket, "Ah so it is true, you did get yourself a partner, Hana-chan said something about that earlier, so this is the little guy eh." Anko said as she prodded Midnight slightly with one of her fingers only to quickly jerk it away when Midnight snapped at it with a growl.

Kenta chuckled, "I think Midnight is a little sensitive about his size, it would be better not to bring it up."

Anko grumbled, "Snappy little bastard isn't he." as she smirked at Midnight, only for the small pup to growl before jumping from her perch in Kenta's flak jacket and shooting between Anko's legs before jumping up and sinking his teeth into Anko's backside making Anko jump and started shaking, "Yeow! Someone get this flea bag off my ass before I make it into a furry hat!" Anko started yelling as she moved about trying to reach Midnight whose response was just to bite harder making Anko struggle more.

All the while Sayaka and Naruto were rolling on the ground laughing at the ridiculous scene in front of them, while Kenta just groaned with his head in his right hand, _'I hope those two can get along, I don't think Anko wants Midnight doing that when he's older, he'll end up biting her ass off'_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Ok one and all, I'd like to thank those who are reading for keeping with this fiction for so long, and I'd like to apologise for the long gaps between updates, life is hectic, and won't be getting easier any time soon.**

 **This chapter is a little shorter than the others, mainly just to wrap up the pre-Genin arc and set things up for the academy time skip, and also to clarify on a few things.**

 **One thing that some will notice is that towards the end of the chapter I drop some ages, this is a main point I'm making, it's a slight change from the cannon story line, I'm planning to pair Mikoto up with someone on down the line but the age gap was a bit much between them, so I had to do a bit of time-warping to change that fact, she was already five years younger cause of my fiddling with the time of the Uchiha massacre, but now with these new changes her actual age is revealed if you do the math right, she's 27 at this point whereas in the cannon she'd be 37 if she was still alive so after the time skip she'll be 31, just to clarify that fact**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

It was early in the morning as the sun was just starting to rise as Naruto raced through the tree line out of breath, wearing his orange tracksuit bottoms and his white shirt, which was currently soaked in sweat from his extensive period of working out under his brother's watchful eye.

The blond landed on a branch in hopes of trying to catch his breath only to yelp and jump out of the way as multiple Senbon needles skewered the tree bark with force from multiple directions, which Naruto only just avoided.

"This is insane Nii-chan!" Naruto yelled as he landed on another branch only to leap out of the way again as more Senbon needles came at him.

"Don't tell me you're getting tired Otōto?" a Kenta clone asked as he dropped down onto on a branch in an upper canopy as a second one dropped beside him, "Yeah, we've only been at this for two hours, we're nowhere near done with the warm up yet." the second clone said with a smirk as he launched more Senbon needles at Naruto who just narrowly avoided them.

Back on the ground below the original Kenta nodded with a smirk on his face in approval of the scene above, with Midnight resting in the neck of his closed flak jacket watching with amusement, Sayaka stood next to the pair with a grin as well as they watched Naruto jump through the trees trying to avoid becoming a blond pin cushion.

"Keep it up Otōto!" the original Kenta called, "You've got a long way to go if you want to be Hokage." he said as he crossed his fingers as another Bunshin appeared and jumped into the trees with Senbon at the ready, "Now quit your whining and duck." it yelled launching the Senbon needles with speed.

Naruto saw them coming and did as suggested ducking under them only for his eyes to widen when three others from the other Bunshins stuck into his left butt cheek making him yelp as he jumped into the air in pain.

As Naruto flew through the air both Kenta, Midnight and Sayaka sweat dropped at the comedy of the moment as Sayaka recalled her first training session of this particular kind with Kenta and how particularly sadistic he was when they trained, and how things seemed to have only escalated from there.

* * *

 **Flashback**

Sayaka was panting heavily as she was bent over hands on her knees trying desperately to catch her breath after she had just finished what Kenta had dubbed to be their warm-up session, which had turned into fifty laps of the clearing they were training in, according to Kenta since it wasn't very large they had to do so many laps to make up for it, she had been ok with the idea that was until Kenta had made her do the full fifty in full sprint, which had led to her current appearance and state of exhaustion.

As she tried desperately to get air back into her lungs Kenta came up right along beside her barely looking like he'd broken a sweat in the experience, Sayaka looked up at him in disbelief as she spoke through each panted breath. "How…. can…you…not…. be exhausted…after…that?"

Kenta gave a small chuckle at her state, "Because I do twenty laps of the village every morning at higher speeds than what we just did, and I'm nowhere near as exhausted as you are until my fifteenth lap, this would barely qualify as a warm up for me." he explained and Sayaka looked at him her eyes growing wider with each word.

As Kenta moved to start his next set of stretches Sayaka looked down in disappointment, "I guess I've got a way's to go then." she said her voice laced with disappointment in her own abilities.

Kenta noticed her mood changing and gave her a warm smile as he put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey you're only just starting off your serious training so don't go comparing yourself to me when I've been training like this for a lot longer. Besides my first day of serious training I came home wrecked from my training, I was so sore I could barely make it up the steps to my apartment. So relax, you're pretty good already and considering you've only just started you can only get better."

Hearing Kenta's words Sayaka started to smile at the encouragement and nodded in agreement as her mood seemed to improve as she took in a final breath before speaking, "Thanks. So what next on out training schedule?" she asked not knowing she would regret asking.

Kenta seemed to get a rather twisted smirk on his face that made Sayaka a little uneasy not knowing what he was thinking.

"Well, now that we've done our stretches and warm up routine, we can start the fun stuff." Kenta said in a tone that was a little too happy as he walked over to the table where he'd left his gear.

After a few seconds, he'd attached a small black holster to his hip and undid the latch as he turned the twisted smirk on his face now a full-blown sadistic grin as he spoke, "Endurance training!"

Confused at what he meant she was about to ask what it involved, but before she could ask him to explain she very rapidly moved out of the way of three Senbon needles coming at her and stabbing into the ground with force as she rolled out of the way.

Stopping a few meters away on a knee she shot a glare at Kenta angry at the sudden attack, "What was that fo-!" she yelled, but stopped gulping slightly as she saw Kenta with his hands up holding a Senbon needle between each closed fingers, with a pleasant smile on his face that sent a shiver down her spine as she chuckled nervously, "Kenta what's going on?" she asked not sure she wanted to know the answer.

Kenta smile only widened as he spoke, "It's simple Sayaka," he said taking a step forward as Sayaka took a step back, "endurance training. The best way to up one's stamina is to push it to the limit and then keep pushing," another step forward, and another step back, "and the best way to motivate someone is through the promise of pain." another step forward, and another step back, "The adrenaline helps the heart to pump faster and the blood to flow easier meaning training is more productive." another step forward, and another step back, "This is how my training partner drilled my stamina into me and how I plan on doing the same for you." another step forward, and another step back, "Senbon needles are the best for this as they cause the lease damage but still hurt enough so you won't want to get hit by them." another step forward.

Sayaka gulped taking another step back "Isn't there any way we could talk about this?" she asked starting to worry a little, but her hope sank when he shook his head his smile still on his face, but only this time when he took a step forward she turned on her heels and started running as he took off after her Senbon needles flying shortly after.

* * *

 **Flashback end**

Naruto landed on another branch but jumped the next second as he avoided another slew of Senbon needles, "Sayaka-nee, Help me!" he cried out worried for his hide as he narrowly avoided an over-the-head water whip from a fourth Bunshin in the canopy above.

Sayaka giggled, "Sorry Naruto-Nii, you're on your own, better keep your head down."

Naruto landed on another branch as his only chance at a possible reprieve was lost just as another water whip wrapped around his waist before he was pulled into the air as he cried out, "Traitor!" only for several more Senbon to come from all different directions as Naruto let out another yelp of pain startling the birds in the canopy above causing them to fly off into the sky.

All three on the ground cringed in slight pity for the blond who they knew would be sore after that little combo, only for a voice to speak out getting their attention, "And I thought my Kaa-san's training was harsh."

Kenta, Midnight and Sayaka looked to the source to see Hana Inuzuka walking into the training area followed by her three companions as they looked around, "This is some place you got here, I almost had trouble finding it." Hana said with an impressed tone seeing the makeshift training area they had put together.

Sayaka blinked seeing the older girl coming into the area, blinking seeing her state of attire, which looked to only consist of her skin tight, knee length shorts, her shinobi sandals and her flak jacket which was open showing some of her cleavage.

Kenta waved greeting her arrival which Sayaka caught and she couldn't help but look down at her own chest and feel the pang of jealousy before giving Hana a small glare for the fact before looking to Kenta, "Kenta, do you know her?"

Kenta nodded, "Yeah, she's Hana Inuzuka, Kiba-san's older sister." he said before looking back to Hana, "I take it this means Tsume-sama gave you permission to teach me and Midnight some of your clan's techniques?"

Hana nodded in response, "Yep, she was more than happy to give me permission to teach you actually." Hana said while inside thinking, _'Yeah only cause she wants me to jump you so she can get some grandkids.'_

Kenta smiled, "That's great." as Midnight yipped from his position before jumping from it onto the ground excited, "So when can we start Hana-san?" Kenta asked just as eager to get started.

Hana nodded in approval, "Right now if you want, my Kaa-san has Kiba in a solo early morning training session right now. So we've got a few hours before I have to go and open the clinic for the day, so I can show you the basics of some of the attacks I'll be teaching you two."

"Sweet." Kenta said, excited at the prospects of learning a new set of Jutsus.

Sayaka frowned slightly hearing that, while she was excited for Kenta and Midnight to begin their training she felt a little left out in the matter. She couldn't offer Kenta anything like that and he'd helped her so much in training, but she couldn't give him anything in return.

Kenta noticed Sayaka's frown and thought that it might have been cause she couldn't join in the training session and tried to cheer her up, "Hey Sayaka-chan, would you mind seeing that Otōto is kept on his toes while Hana-san, Midnight and me are training? Tell him once we're done we can go for ramen if he wants."

Sayaka smiled at the idea and nodded, "Sure think Kenta-Kun, I'm sure he'll like that." she said before turning giving a final glance at Hana before reaching into her pouches and taking out a handful of Senbon needles as a rather sadistic smile came to her face as she started chuckling as she walked towards the tree line in the direction Naruto had been.

Kenta sweat dropped hearing the chuckling as a thought crossed his mind, _'I think me and Anko are starting to rub off on her a little too much'_ , before he turned to Hana and bowed, "Me and Midnight are in your capable hands, Hana-san. Right Midnight?" he said as Midnight yipped enthusiastically in agreement.

Hana smiled watching the interaction between the pair, she could tell they would really make a good team and that these techniques would only aid in that. But she couldn't help but think about Sayaka, she knew who she was and had her curiosity peeked about her and Kenta's relationship as she heard how they addressed each other. They had obviously known each other for a while, and her Kaa-san's words from the day before came into her head _'"He's the makings of a real Alpha in him if you don't snag him someone else will, a pup like that doesn't come around every day."'_ Hana frowned slightly at the idea of someone else already with Kenta before she caught herself on, _'Wait why am I suddenly feeling sad that someone else might already be with him, he's only twelve for Kami sake. Sure he's a regular little stud and gets along great with Midnight, but why am I getting so bent out of shape over the fact that someone else is with him or after him too? …Wait I'm not after him…am I? ... Oh no Kaa-san what have you put into my head!?'_ Hana mentally screamed as she realised what she was thinking before the sound of Kenta's voice brought her out of it.

"Hana-san, Hana-san, hey earth to Hana-san, can you hear me?" Kenta spoke waving his hand in front of her face trying to get her attention.

Hana rapidly blinked, "Hu, what." she said coming out of her thoughts realizing she'd spaced out and blushed slightly at what she'd been thinking, "Oh sorry I was just thinking about something my Kaa-san told me yesterday. So are you ready to begin, Kenta-Kun?" she spoke before clasping her hand over her mouth suddenly realizing the honorific she'd added without thinking.

Kenta blinked hearing the honorific as Hana looked at him slightly worried with how he'd react to it before he smiled, "Sure thing Hana-chan, where do we begin?"

Hana felt her cheeks blush when he called her that and let out a sigh of relief that he'd taken it as well as he had before smiling as she started to show him the starting stances for the Inuzuka Taijutsu style and how to go from it to their clan Jutsus.

Meanwhile hidden deep in the tree line stood Mikoto Uchiha dressed in her shinobi attire consisting of a black tracksuit and her dark green Jōnin flak jacket with her katana across her back and her Hitai-ate tied to her left shoulder. She watched the scene below with a smirk on her face as started to think, _'Hmm, well it looks like Kenta-Kun is a little ladies man just like Minato, if only Kushina could see this she would be laughing at the prospects of grandchildren.'_ Mikoto thought with fondness of her old friend as she watched Kenta start to copy Hana's movements, before she nodded to herself, _'Well it looks like I'm going to have to have a little chat with Tsume, if both our girls want him, they'll just have to learn to share.'_ she thought before disappearing into a leaf Shunshin.

* * *

 **Scene break**

In the training area of the head house of the Inuzuka clan, Kiba collapsed flat on his front panting in exhaustion as Akamaru landed right next to him in a similar state as they both tried to catch their breath, however both felt their bodies stiffen when a certain shadow loomed over them, and they looked up to see the frightful form of Tsume glaring down at them.

"And just what the hell do you two think you're doing" Tsume barked making both boy and pup cower in fear, "You're nowhere near finished your fiftieth set, get back to it!" she snapped as both Kiba and Akamaru started running again, as Tsume watched them go.

"As hard as ever I see." came a voice from behind her as Tsume turned her head as Mikoto appeared behind her from a Shunshin, "You always were a bit of a hard ass when we were training."

Tsume smirked, "I had to be, you and Kushina were always slacking off when I wasn't looking."

Mikoto giggled slightly in remembrance of their youth, "Yeah, but there were always those times when you were right there beside us doing the same."

Tsume gave an amused chuckle, "Yeah. So what brings you by at this hour of the morning? I would have thought you'd be training with either of your two pups like I am with mine." Tsume asked as she turned to look at her old friend.

Mikoto nodded, "Well Sasuke is busy with his own morning training and didn't request my help this morning and Sayaka is out training with a friend, who is actually the reason I've come to talk with you."

Tsume raised an eyebrow at the statement, "Why, you need my help scaring the little punk away from your daughter or something? Would have thought you'd have no problem with that yourself." Tsume asked as Mikoto shook her head.

"No Tsume it's not that, perhaps it would be better if we talked inside, away from prying ears." Mikoto suggested gesturing to the house.

Taking the hint Tsume nodded and gestured to go on as both of them walked inside, Tsume closed the door behind her before looking to her old friend, "Ok Miko, what's with all the cryptic talk? You know I was never one for that type of shit, so just spit it out already."

Mikoto smirked hearing Tsume call her that and talk like that, it reminded her of the good days before that bastard Fugaku had started to control her life after they were married and made things difficult between the clans.

"Sure think Tsume." Mikoto said leaning on one of the kitchen counter tops with a smirk, "I just wanted to check something, am I right in assuming that you've told your eldest to try to pursue a relationship with Kenta Uzumaki?" she asked raising an eyebrow at the Inuzuka matriarch.

Tsume smirked, "I did. After he trounced Kiba twice I asked him to come around so I could see what he was like, he is a regular little Alpha in the making that one, so of course I told Hana to go for him it should be no secret from you that I want grand pups. Sure the kids a little young but I can wait until after he's out of the academy, in fact she should be with him right now teaching him some of my clan's Jutsus so he and his partner can work well in a team."

Mikoto nodded, "Yes I just came from watching them getting started on that actually. Kenta seems to be picking it up quite well along with his partner"

Tsume raised an eyebrow, "and why were you watching my daughter and Kenta, you reminiscing about old times with Kushina?"

Mikoto nodded, "That was part of it. I take it you were able to put together that he and Naruto are hers and Minato's then?"

Tsume nodded, "Just because I hate the cryptic shit doesn't make me stupid Miko. Naruto is practically Minato's double if it wasn't for those whisker marks. I'd think I was looking at an actual double of him at that age and who else in this village had that shade of red hair, I knew who he was at first glance."

Mikoto smiled, "I never said you were stupid Tsume," she said with a little giggle, "I just wanted to be sure. But the main reason I was watching them was that before Hana arrived he was with Sayaka, the pair of them have been training together since before the academy, in secret so that Fugaku-Teme never found out."

Tsume blinked and frowned, "I see, so Kenta's already spoken for. Is that what you've come to say, you want me to tell Hana to back off?"

Mikoto shook her head, "And here I thought you said you weren't dumb Tsume." she said with a little giggle, "No that's not what I want at all, I was watching Kenta and Hana and I can see that both of them like each other, Hana maybe a little more so as she's more mature."

Tsume grumbled, "I don't get it then, if you don't want me to tell Hana to back off then what's your angle? They can't both have him."

Mikoto giggled, "Oh but they can Tsume-chan, both Naruto and Kenta are both the last of the Uzumaki clan, if it's restored in Konoha, as the last members of the clan they can have multiple wives."

Tsume crossed her arms, "So you're wanting me to convince Hana to share with Sayaka when the time comes, and keep her pushing for Kenta regardless?"

Mikoto nodded, "Yes, a little bit of competition and rivalry will be good for Sayaka and Hana. And who else would be better for Kushina-chan's eldest when he does settle down to start a family? This way we'll both have grandkids to spoil."

Tsume smirked nodding, "True. But you do realise this is all relying on that the council will vote to reinstate the Uzumaki clan in Konoha when the time comes that both Kenta and Naruto are of age, and with Kenta being the eldest he will be named Clan head?"

Mikoto nodded, "Of course and when the time comes I plan on fully supporting him in doing so, and I hope he will have yours as well?"

Tsume nodded, "Definitely. Why would I vote against it? If I did chances are I'd have to wait another seven years for grand pups." she said with a laugh.

Mikoto smiled as she stood up, "Good I just wanted to see that you were in on my little plan, now I've got to get back to the compound, Sasuke will likely be finished his training, I swear that boy get more and more like his father every day."

Tsume scoffed, "How's that, thick headed pretentious prick?"

Mikoto nodded, "Exactly, I was hoping he'd start to change for the better with him not influencing him all the time, but he just seems to be getting worse by the day as it stands. I'm ready to announce Sayaka as heiress, the clan can't go down the road Fugaku wanted and if Sasuke remains the heir that's the only way it could go."

Tsume nodded, "I never liked Fugaku, he was always a jackass. I could never understand why you chose him, you were only fourteen and he was eighteen for Kami sake."

Mikoto sighed, "You know what my Tou-san was like, as soon as I became a Genin I was legally an adult, he pressured me into choosing a strong Uchiha to marry so that the line was secure. Fugaku was the strongest out of all my suitors, I didn't have much of a say in the matter you know that. The only upside was he agreed to wait until you, Kushina and I all passed our Chūnin exams before we tried for children. I wasn't exactly thrilled to be pregnant at fifteen and then again at seventeen, but I thank kami all that is behind me. But honestly I don't know if I would do it any differently, if I did I might not have had the many wonderful years with Itachi that I did and I wouldn't have Sasuke or Sayaka. Even if Sasuke is a little darker than I would like."

Tsume crossed her arms, "I take it the whispers about the real reason behind your clan's massacre were true then? Fugaku really was planning a coup, and Itachi got tasked with stopping it?" Tsume spoke in a low voice.

Mikoto nodded slightly, "It is, I knew that Fugaku-Teme was twisted but I couldn't do anything to stop him, and the thought that Itachi had been tasked with stopping it makes it all the worse. Even after all this time Sayaka still misses Itachi and wants to ask him why he did what he did, she's too smart to actually believe the reasoning he gave. And Sasuke wants to kill him to avenge the clan, like he thinks Fugaku would want, which will never happen if I have anything to say about it."

Tsume sighed, "Fugaku-Teme really screwed things up didn't he? And now the children are paying for it, I hope he's rotting in whatever hell he's in."

Mikoto nodded in agreement, "So do I, but the part that gets to me is that when Sayaka was found afterwards she was with Kenta where they trained. She'd ran to the one other place she felt safe and cried until she to sleep in his arms as he held her and then when he returned her to me he said that he would push for the reason as to why Itachi really slaughtered our clan right alongside Sayaka. I guess he has too much Minato in him to believe the lie Itachi told Sayaka about his reasons."

Tsume shook her head; "I wouldn't put it past him to do just that. But realistically what are the chances that he does find out?"

Mikoto looked at Tsume with a sigh, "Do you remember when Uzu fell, the look in Minato's eyes when he swore they would pay for what they did?"

Tsume nodded as she felt the rare occurrence of a shiver running down her spine remembering the look the blond had that day it was enough to make even her fear for those who angered him, "I do, hard to forget it."

Mikoto didn't even blink, "Kenta had that same look when he said that's what he plans on doing. There isn't a doubt in my mind that he will find out." she said frowning, "I just hope that when he does Sayaka and he will forgive those of us involved for not finding another solution for my clan's stupidity." she finished before disappearing into a leaf Shunshin heading for home.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was two hours later on one of the main streets of Konoha where Naruto, Sayaka and Kenta were walking home, each looking exhausted after their lengthy training session together, Midnight was on top of Kenta's head panting as well the small pup had really given it's all in training like all of them.

Naruto was struggling to lift his feet as he walked, every bone in his body was sore and even though his wounds from the Senbon needles had healed up he was still sore from them, "I don't know who's more sadistic, Nii-chan or Sayaka-nee." he whined in pain, after Sayaka had joined his training session personally the Kenta clones kept trying to one up her and see who could get Naruto first out of them, which only made it harder on the young blond to stay ahead of them.

Kenta chuckled at the statement, "Just be thankful we didn't ask Anko to help. You'd have been in real trouble then, cause she wouldn't have stopped and you'd have twice as many cuts as you did." Kenta said with a smirk seeing Naruto shiver at the thought.

"Y-Yeah good thing I heal fast." Naruto said a little nervously, he'd seen Anko pissed off and serious, that was one woman no man should ever piss off, anyone who did either A: wanted to die a slow painful death, B: was just plain stupid, or C: Both of the above.

Midnight gave a small yip of agreement from atop of Kenta's head as the redhead reached up and scratched him behind the ear, "Yeah I know boy, Hana was a little hard on us, but it's just day one, we've got a long road ahead of us."

Sayaka groaned as she rubbed her neck from the pain in it, "Yeah we all do." she said a little sore from their free-for-all sparring session after their training.

Naruto chuckled at the sight, "Yeah sorry about that Sayaka-nee, no hard feelings about the spar."

Kenta chuckled as he looked over his shoulder at Naruto, "What do you have to be sorry for, we're still picking pieces of your ass out of our boots." he said with a chuckle which Sayaka joined in on as Naruto groaned at the statement.

As the four continued down the street a voice called out making them stop each for a different reason.

"So this is where I find you." each of them turned to see Sasuke coming towards them but stopping several feet from them, "When I asked Kaa-san where you were when I got back from training she said you were out training yourself. But when I looked the training grounds you weren't there and now I find you here with this trash." Sasuke said as he glared at the two Uzumaki, before looking back to his sister, "We're Uchiha, you shouldn't be hanging around with the trash, it's bad enough you sit beside him in class, now you're hanging around them outside of the academy."

Hearing the statement Naruto started clenching his fists, he'd started to take a severe disliking to the last male Uchiha after their match on the first day, his whole attitude towards anyone who wasn't an Uchiha and male really got on his nerves.

Kenta, on the other hand, looked at Sasuke with a somewhat more pessimistic view. He knew that he had more than enough skill to beat him and so viewed his words as what they were; just hot air. Although he still held some resentment to him for how brutally he attacked Naruto in their match, but had gotten his payback for that and would make sure the next time Naruto and he faced that it would be Sasuke who ended up getting his ass kicked.

Sayaka on the on the other side of it all mentally sighed at her older brother's attitude. She just couldn't understand him, no matter what their Kaa-san and she did to try to get him to revert from their Tou-san's views on women and non-Uchiha's they just couldn't do it. And at this point she just scowled at her brother, "You're one to talk Sasuke-Nii. I seem to remember Kenta-Kun trouncing you pretty easily in class the other day if you're calling him trash, what does that make you?"

Hearing his sister's comment Sasuke scowled back at her, "Shut up! How dare you speak to me that way, I'm the next heir not you. And you're disgracing the Uchiha name by hanging around with the likes of them." he yelled pointing at the two Uzumaki brother, "I have no idea why Kaa-san even allows you to be around this trash, if Tou-sama was still alive he'd have you thrown out of the clan for this disgrace. Yesterday was just a fluke there's no way filth like this can ever beat a real Uchiha elite."

Although Kenta viewed Sasuke's words as just that, he felt an anger start to rise in his chest when he spoke to Sayaka that way. His fists clenching wanting to punch the last male Uchiha right in his smug mouth for his arrogance, but decided against making a scene in the street and instead smirked as he thought of a better way to hurt the last male Uchiha, point out the flaws in his own statement, "Sorry Sasuke-Baka, but I've got no intention of fighting Mikoto-sama because she is the only Uchiha "elite" left in this village." Kenta said as his smirk grew seeing Sasuke's rage starting to grow as he continued, "And no matter how much you say it you are nowhere near "elite", hell I'm normally not one to place bets but I'm willing to bet anything that Sayaka-chan could trounce your ass around your clan compound and back, regardless of your little "clan heir" status, which means nothing to me." Kenta said as he did a mock yawn as Sasuke looked ready to blow, while both Naruto and Sayaka looked ready to bust a gut, "Now I suggest you leave us alone, your demands of us mean as little as Midnight here passing gas, only they probably smell better" Kenta said with grin as both Naruto and Sayaka burst out laughing unable to contain it anymore.

Sasuke on the other hand finally lost it, "Bastard, I am a fucking elite how dare yo…" he started to yell as he lunged at Kenta to slug him but was stopped in his tracks and silenced when in a sudden flash of movement a taller figure appeared behind the young male Uchiha, who felt the business end of a Kunai placed to his throat threatening to slice him from ear to ear, as a sweet and sadistic female voice spoke with amusement.

"Well, well, well what do we have here? A loud obnoxious Gaki who doesn't know when to shut up it would seem." Anko grinned as she leaned down to beside Sasuke's head with a sadistic smirk plastered to her face, "Now why can you just be like your sister and actually act with some dignity, or has Mikoto-san, yet to beat that arrogant streak out of you yet?" Asked Anko as she pressed the kunai just a little closer to Sasuke's throat as he glared at her from the side of his eyes, "Guess not." Anko grinned seeing the glare before looking to Naruto, Sayaka and Kenta who were watching the scene in front of them, "Good morning you three, is this loud mouth bothering you?"

Sayaka shook her head at her brothers stupidity, "No, he's just spouting hot air as always. Kenta and Naruto were just walking me home after we finished our morning training session before we met up again in class." Sayaka explained casually as if Anko wasn't currently holding a lethal weapon to her brother's throat.

Anko nodded in approval, "Well, I could take you from here." she offered before tilting the kunai pressed to Sasuke's throat a bit forcing him to tilt his head as the blade moved, "I need to drop off your brother here, only way to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid while he's in this mood. You know how whiny little bitches can be, never know what they're going to do." Anko smirked.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger as he glared at her, "How dare you, you fucking slut when I get my hands on you I'll…" he started to spit in anger, only to find himself slammed to the ground hard in a blur of movements he didn't see coming, only of a large snake to be wrapped around his midsection binding his arms to his sides as it squeezed him hard enough to make him grit his teeth in pain, as Anko sat on top of him with a smirk still on her face.

"See what I mean, you can never tell when they'll do something crazy or say something completely stupid." Anko smirked before replacing the Kunai at Sasuke's throat pressing the tip just hard enough to draw blood, "Now I'd watch your tone you whiny little bastard, otherwise I'll just let my pet here have an early morning snack, although from the looks of you, you'd just give her indigestion." Anko smirked seeing him still glaring at her, before she looked to Sayaka, "You coming or what, I'd like to have a word with Mikoto-san now concerning that last comment. I might just offer my services with that stick up his ass that needs pulling out."

That last comment got both Kenta and Naruto chuckling as Sayaka just sighed walking over while thinking, _'She could use all the help she could get, we both could.'_ before she turned to look to Naruto and Kenta, "I'll see you guys in class."

Kenta nodded, "See you there." he replied as Anko put her hand on Sayaka's shoulder and the three of them disappeared into a leaf Shunshin, all the while Sasuke was trying to struggle and get out of the snake's grip which only tightened around him.

Kenta shook his head as they disappeared, "I don't know if I pity Sasuke or not." he said feeling slight pity for the last male Uchiha.

Naruto looked to his brother with a raised eyebrow, "Why's that? I think he's a complete ass." Naruto said remembering Sasuke's words moments before.

Kenta chuckled, "Because if you think you've seen Anko when she's sadistic, she's a hundred times worse when she's pissed off, it's then she started using her poisons and nerve agents combined with her Senbon needles. After that she starts using the snakes, if there's one person you should never piss off, it's her." he said as they walked, Naruto gulped rethinking his three reasons as to why someone would ever piss off Anko, and a new option made the list, D: Just plain nuts.

And no more than twenty seconds after that an excruciatingly painful scream echoed through the village that could easily be recognised as Sasuke's and both brothers shivered before saying a silent prayer for the stupid emo Uchiha. _'May the log have mercy on his soul. Because Anko and Mikoto won't.'_

Kenta shook his head as he figured he'd get the details on exactly what went down later from Sayaka and Anko, something was telling him that it was going to be quite the story, and he wanted all the details, "Come on Otōto, I'll take us home, we've still got your Fūinjutsu lessons to review before we go to the academy." he said placing his hand on his brother's shoulder and disappearing into his own Shunshin taking Naruto with him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **4 Year time skip**

It was a new morning in Konoha as the sun started to rise over the village walls and in through the windows of the Uzumaki brothers, in Kenta's apartment, a mess of dark red hair can be seen at the top of the bedcovers with the bed sheets covering everything else. At the base of the bed lay a large black dog with wolf-like features.

As the sunlight fills the apartment the large canine opens its eyes slowly before opening its jaw letting out a yawn just as the alarm clock on the bedside table goes off getting a groan from beneath the covers.

The large dog gets up off the bed and stretches out as the alarm continues to go off, after several moments of stretching the dog starts to nudge the form under the covers in an attempt to wake his master from his sleep, after several nudged a final groan is heard from under the covers, "Alright Midnight, I'm up." was the response as a hand reaches out silencing the alarm.

Midnight stepped back as the bed covers were thrown back as the occupant slings his legs out of the bed, Kenta sat on the edge of his bed with a groan rubbing his sore neck as Midnight came to his side and he reached out petting his partner, "Who needs that thing when I've got you eh." Kenta said in a joking tone as he went to stand up fully.

The past four years showed on Kenta's body as he stood up, now sixteen years of age, the many years of hard rigorous training had refined Kenta's already toned form, as he stood at 5 foot 11 inches tall wearing a pair of skin-tight boxer shorts that went down to his mid-thighs, the evidence of his training was well seen as he now sported an extremely chiselled physique and eight pack abs, showed the extent of his training since he started six years ago.

His red hair had darkened slightly and now flowed to the base of his neck at the back, while the front was trimmed to chin length, his hair was spiked with a wild feel to it, but the strands were thin and varied instead of messy clumps, as the sides of his hair went just above his shoulders framing his face and clashing with his blue eyes making them stand out even more than they had in the past.

As Kenta stood up he rotated his neck as a series of loud pops were heard as Kenta groaned starting to walk to the kitchen, as more pops were heard from his joints as he walked, _'Ow, that's the last time I train for ninety-six hours straight, my body just can't hack that.'_ Kenta mentally winces as he made it to the kitchen worktop.

Reaching up into one of the cupboards he took down a large bag of dog food and started scooping several cupfull's into a metal dish before filling the second one with water and placing both on the ground as Midnight started to eat.

Kenta then started to move over to his closet and started pulling on a black tracksuit with red stripes down the sides of them, before going to the kitchen sink and filling a bottle of water, as he did so he looked to see Midnight was finished with his breakfast, "You mind getting Naruto up? He'll want to be up early to this morning." Kenta said with a smirk.

Midnight nodded in response to the request as he trotted over to the door between the two apartments and used jumped up putting its paw on the door handle and letting his weight push it down and opening the door before trotting inside.

Kenta came around the front of the kitchen counter and leant on the front of them as he took a drink of his water as he listen for the sounds that soon followed, the sound of silence followed by Midnight's loud barking and the cries of shock from the now awake Naruto before the sound of the blond crashing out of his bed.

Seconds later Midnight came trotting in through the door once again and sat by his master's side as Naruto made it to the doorway leaning on it as he panted trying to get his breath back after it was scared out of him in the sudden wake up call, "Why do you do that every time Nii-chan?" Naruto said as he finally got his breathing under control.

Kenta shrugged as he stood up, "Because it's fun and it's the only one hundred percent method to make sure you actually get you up where I don't have to do anything." he said as he walked to the door out and opened it as Midnight walked through, "I'm heading out on my run. I'm sure you've got morning plans as well, seeing as we're graduating today. So I'll see you at the academy Otōto." Kenta said with a smirk as he walked out closing the door behind him as he missed the large smirk on Naruto's face as he did so.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Kenta and Midnight were both running down the empty street, it was still early and no one was out of bed yet aside from those few who were going to bed. Both teen and dog were heading to the gate to start their real morning run, when a sound behind them caught their attention making them look behind them to see a familiar green blur approaching them at high speed while trailing a large dust cloud behind it as the sound of the figure yelling "Yoooooooouth!" could be heard before it slowed rapidly as it met with Kenta and Midnight as the dust cloud blew past them.

As the dust cloud settled the green figure was now running alongside Kenta and Midnight, he was dressed in an all green body suit with black shinobi sandals with a dark red belt around his waist, with the Hitai-ate around the middle of his waist, both his legs had bright orange leg warmers up to his knees and both his hands were wrapped tightly in bandages, his hair was black and in a bowl cut with thick black bushy eyebrows matching it as he gave Kenta a nice guy grin which seemed to sparkle ever so slightly.

"Yosh! Good morning Kenta-san, what a glorious morning for a run is it not!" the green-clad-boy declared with a fire in his eyes

Kenta chuckled strangely at the boy, "Yeah it sure is Lee. So how's your training been going?" he asked as the three of them kept running at a steady pace.

Lee pumped his fist in the air as they ran, "It has been going most excellent Kenta-san I've recently increased my weights. Gai-sensei says my flames of youth are burning brighter every day." Lee said with a passion as his eyes burst into symbolic flames before looking at Kenta as they ran, "What of yours Kenta-san how goes your endeavours?"

Kenta shrugged, "As good as always. Sensei says I'm not to increase my weights until I've gotten through the final level of the gravity and restriction levels before I do so again. Though I feel like I could easily, sensei says it is too soon, so I'm just adding an extra lap to make the most of it." Kenta said with a grin, "I would have added five but then I'd be late for class and I can't be late for graduation."

Lee pumped his arm high into the air in support of Kenta's extra training, "Yosh, you're fire burns even brighter than my own Kenta-san, you will succeed with little difficulty. And from what Gai-sensei has told me of your sensei, it would be wise to listen to him. Though I do not know who he is, Gai-sensei says he is both wise and respected, you are lucky to have someone like that to take you as their student like Gai-sensei has done for me." Lee praised as the flames in his eyes grew in size, "Come let us explode with the power of youth in honour of our great sensei's my rival, let us show what the fruits of our training have brought!" Lee cried out before taking off at insane speeds leaving Kenta and Midnight running at their regular speed, watching on as Lee disappeared from sight into the distance.

Kenta looked to Midnight and Midnight to Kenta, "Don't look at me like that," Kenta said as he shivered a little, "I find him just as strange as you do." he said before they continued on their run.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Getting back to his apartment, Kenta walked in with Midnight by his side both were panting heavily as they went to the kitchen. Kenta filled Midnight's water bowl setting it down on the ground before he went and stuck his head under the tap as both teen and dog drank as much as they could, exhausted from their run.

After a full minute of drinking from the tap Kenta pulled his head out from under it taking a much-needed breath, _'Damn I needed that.'_ he thought as he moved to the bathroom as he pulled off his tracksuit heading to shower.

After a much-needed shower Kenta came out with a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hands he was using to dry his hair as he made his way over to his wardrobe taking a scroll from the top of it and opening it on the bed as he touched the sealing array within before the room was filled with smoke that faded to reveal his newly bought attire that he'd gotten a few weeks ahead of time with Sayaka's help in preparation for his graduation.

After a further few minutes of drying and dressing Kenta was finally set for his day. His new attire consisted of a new black flak jacket; this one having short sleeves and hood both with the custom red fur trims and lining. Underneath it was a long sleeved mesh shirt that covered the rest of his arms with loops at the end of both sleeves that were around his middle fingers holding the sleeves in place. He had two metal backed gauntlets and gloves on his hands over the mesh sleeves. His new ANBU pants had been modified with metal exterior kneepads with modified latches attached around his waist designed to hold his whip sword easier. Hanging from the middle of his front waist now was a long dark brown sash that went to his right side and was attached to the back of his waist which had several loops in it, each holding in place a small storage scroll with red bindings on each with various Kanji labelling each scroll's contents. On his left hip was the standard black Kunai pouch with three Senbon needles horizontally across its body below the opening latch.

Securing his gauntlets to his wrists Kenta nodded in approval of his new attire before he pulled up his hood covering his hair as he turned his head making sure his vision wasn't impaired taking notes of anything that needed modifications made later. Satisfied he nodded looking down as he felt Midnight nudge him in the leg.

Smirking knowing what his partner wanted, Kenta reached to the underside of his right gauntlet and touched the small sealing tag as three dog treats appeared out of a small cloud of smoke before he tossed them to Midnight who took them in one bite making Kenta smirk as he knelt down rubbing Midnight's head, "Come on let's get going, can't let them start without us." he said getting a confident bark in response before he knelt to Midnights side as they both vanished in a larger swirl of red feathers.

* * *

 **Academy grounds**

As the wind died down outside of the academy Kenta and Midnight appeared. Kenta stood up from his crouched position, patting Midnight's head as he did so. The pair could see that others were still arriving and Kenta smirked, _'Perfect right on time.'_ Kenta thought before he and Midnight started to the front door to join the masses.

Entering through the lower classroom door Kenta couldn't help but smirk as he looked up the rows up seats and saw a sight that made him proud. Naruto had arrived before him and his new wardrobe had drawn the attention of some of the civilian girls in the class, as they were all currently crowding around Naruto talking to the blushing blond who was rubbing his head sheepishly.

His new outfit was something that both Sayaka and Kenta had input on to make him look much more professional. Gone was the orange monstrosity; it was replaced with a dark brown hooded jacket with a red swirl on the back and a dark navy shirt underneath. He wore black ANBU style pants and black shinobi boots. Across the base of his back was a slightly larger than normal sealing scroll for storage with a nineteen inch Ninjatō in a black lacquer sheath resting above it. Something that he'd been practicing with over the past two years after Kenta had got him it as a birthday present.

Kenta catching Naruto's eye nodded in approval of his brother's new popularity with the girls in the class as he walked up to take his own seat. As he did so he let his gaze wander to the back of the room to one blushing girl in particular, Hinata Hyūga who at the moment was blushing more than she normally would have been while eyeing up Naruto from behind. Kenta couldn't help but stifle a chuckle; in the four years at the academy his Otōto was still completely oblivious to her not-so-secret crush on him, he was betting the entire academy knew about it but Naruto. But he had decided to leave it be and enjoy watching her dance around him over the years, he was looking forward to the day that Naruto finally noticed for himself and he could tease him relentlessly for not noticing sooner.

Kenta sat down in his usual spot as Midnight took his spot under the desk at his master's feet. Kenta looked down at the desk below him and smirked seeing a regular sight of a sleeping Shikamaru and chuckled slightly, "As lazy as always, 'ay Shika. So are you up for continuing our last game after we're done with the first test? The sooner you get it done the sooner we can play." he asked openly as Shika stirred from his position.

Keeping his head down on the table with his left arm as a pillow, Shikamaru simply raised his right hand and gave a single wave back to him, "Yeah sure thing." he yawned before putting his hand back down.

Kenta smirked at Shikamaru's laziness, he could never get more than five words out of the guy in a single sentence, it was only when it came to shogi that he was actually paying attention enough that they were able to have a full conversation. Hence why the two had a running game of shogi every week and given how good both of them were the game lasted anywhere up to two days to a full week. Given the could only play for an hour at lunch and then a couple of hours after class, the two of them had sparked a friendly rivalry over the board game that had formed a good friendship over the years.

"Hey Kenta." Chōji asked as he turned in his seat looking up at the red head, "You and Naruto up for some BBQ after all of us pass? My Tou-san says he'll hook us all up."

And with that friendship came the same from Chōji. Both he and Naruto had been friends with the pleasantly plump teen for about the same amount of time, although Naruto more than him, ever since Naruto had actually beaten Chōji in a ramen eating contest after the first month in class. The Uzumaki brothers had had the Akimichi heirs respect and friendship.

Kenta smirked, "Sure thing, sounds like a great way to celebrate graduating."

"Mind if I tag along also?" came Sayaka's voice from behind them, Kenta looked and found himself gulping slightly at Sayaka's new clothing, over the years her figure had filled in more and she now packed a pair of perky C-cup breasts and a slender 5 foot 5 in figure to match.

Her hair had darkened and grown down to her waist, which she kept swept to one side, her onyx eyes still filled with the fire and passion that she's had since the first day Kenta had met her.

She was wearing the new outfit that Anko had helped her to pick out a few weeks prior, consisting of a shortened version of a Cheongsam dress with bluish-purple rims and detailing that hugged her growing curves nicely. Underneath which she had a pair of skin tight grey shorts that came to her mid right thigh, where she had her kunai pouch strapped to, while the left side was all mesh and went just to below her left knee.

Her arms and hands were covered down to her mid-upper arms with black gloves with no fingertips and mesh at the upper arm areas with bluish-purple rims.

The top of the dress was modified and made of mesh connected to a black choker around her neck leaving her back and shoulders bare. On her feet, she had black shinobi sandals that are cut open at the heels, her clan symbol present at the base of her dress.

Kenta paused for a moment longer as he took in the sight, only to get nudged under the table by Midnight snapping him out of it, "Um, yeah sure, the more the merrier." Kenta responded fighting down an embarrassed blush hoping she hadn't noticed him staring.

Only to prove she had when she smirked slightly as she continued down the stairs to their aisle before stopping and giving a slow twirl as she saw Kenta looking at her making sure to let him have a good look before stopping with her hand on her hip facing him, "Well what do you think Kenta-Kun, Anko-chan helped me pick it out for my graduation. Pretty professional looking don't you think?" she asked smirking seeing him looking at her with a slight blush.

"U-Um yea looks great Sayaka-chan, very professional looking." Kenta commented desperately trying to fight down his blush after the agonisingly slow three-sixty rotation. Sayaka smiled at the compliment.

Although the mood was soon ruined as Sasuke pushed past her heading down to his seat before stopping and glancing back an arrogant look on his face, "Hm, if you take fashion advice from sluts and whores, you'll become one." He said as he turned back to his seat, "But then again hanging around with the trash will do the same thing." he scoffed and was about to continue on his way only for his eyes to widen when he heard a low growl moments before he felt something sink its teeth into his ass, as he cried out, looking back the next second to find the black form of Midnight biting into his backside letting out a deep throated growl aimed at him.

Kenta suppressed a chuckle in his throat at the sight, "Midnight let that go you don't know where it's been."

Midnight hearing his master's command gave a final growl and a squeeze before releasing the boy's backside and moving back. Sasuke, of course took offence to the attack and his hand instantly going for his kunai pouch intending on paying Midnight back for the insult. But as his hand reached his kunai pouch before he even got it open he felt a jab of pain shot through his hand and up his arm. He looked to it and his eye's widened seeing two Senbon needles protruding from his hand, but not reacting was his mistake as the next second he felt his entire body go stiff and himself unable to move before he heard, someone approach him from the back, looking to see Kenta shaking his head at him.

"You've got to work on those reflexes Teme, those Senbon were coated with a paralytic agent that I made myself. It works almost instantaneously as soon as it enters the targets body as you're no doubt feeling the effects of right now." Kenta said as he approached Sasuke shaking his head, "But don't worry the effects aren't permanent. In fact the effects should wear off in the next few minutes since I gave you a watered down dose, but it's just long enough so you won't try anything while I give you a warning." Kenta said as his hand went to his sword belt pulling it free and straight as he pointed the tip at Sasuke's face glaring at the Uchiha male, "I will tell you this only once so listen up. If you ever insult Sayaka-chan or Anko-chan like that again and even attempt to harm my partner" Kenta said as he lowered his sword to let it rest just in front of Sasuke's crotch, "And I'll make sure that only Sayaka can carry on the next Uchiha generation, which if I'm not mistaken would take away your right to be clan heir also, so it would be in your best interests to keep your temper and mouth in check," Kenta said before he removed his sword and reattached it to his waist with a smirk, "Besides, Midnight was just trying to help you out by pulling that twenty foot pole you've seemed to somehow got shoved up your ass, it's not his fault you've got it wedged up their good and tight" Kenta joked instantly defusing the tension in the scene that had made the whole room go deafly silent, as everyone bar a few burst out in laughter.

However as Kenta turned to head back to his seat, what he had said rolled over in his mind the second that he say Sayaka, as she stopped giggling realising the exact same as Kenta sported a slight blush while Sayaka slowly grew redder by the second.

 _'What the hell! Where did that come from! Gahhh, I'm such an idiot, Baka, baka, baka!'_ Kenta berated himself for running his mouth; he'd been spending way too much time watching Anko work.

 _'Carrying on the line, he doesn't mean he wants to, oh no, does he, nonononononono, I'm the only one who thinks that he couldn't have meant that no, we're just friends, just friends'_ Sayaka thought to herself, trying to keep from going any redder from her thoughts.

Kenta quickly returned to his seat as Midnight retook his spot by his feet, Sayaka sat next to him, neither of them looking at each other both with light blushes, both praying that the other wouldn't notice, praying for something to distract them, and thanked Kami when something did.

"Hey Kenta, Sayaka!" Kiba called as he came in with a waist high Akamaru beside him, "You two ready to pass this today?" he said before he stopped blinking at the stiff Sasuke in the middle of the stairs up, they both looked him up and down as they passed, before Kiba took his seat on the other side of Sayaka still looking at Sasuke, "Ok someone want to fill me in on why there's an Emo statue in the middle of the room?" He asked which Sayaka giggled at.

"Oh just Sasuke-Nii being arrogant as always and Kenta-Kun getting him to shut up before he embarrassed himself and the clan further." she said covering her mouth to stop from giggling.

Kenta smirked, "Yeah and the effects should be wearing off right about now."

As Kenta finished speaking Sasuke actually did get the control of his limbs back again and he immediately acted his hand going right to his kunai. He was furious, how dare that Uzumaki threatens him and make him look like such a fool, he'd show him what happens when you threaten an Uchiha elite. But just as his hand gripped his kunai and he went to step forward to lunge for Kenta the classroom door opened and the voice of Iruka filled the room making him snarl before closing his pouch and going to his seat, he'd get him yet.

Iruka walked to the middle of the front of the room with a pleased smile next to him as Mizuki took his place to Iruka's right just behind him with a very subtle limp in his step after never properly recovered from Kenta's finally humiliation that day and always having to use a cushion any time he sat down.

The second Mizuki had entered Kenta had been watching him with a narrowed gaze, he had never liked the silver-haired Teme and he knew he had it out for both him and Naruto from day one of the academy. Although ever since he returned from his extended stay at the hospital his attempts to screw up his and Naruto's education and marks had been much more subtle; stuff like out-dated textbooks, wrong test papers, faulty equipment in training sessions, things that could easily be explained away. And it was because of that Hiruzen hadn't been able to give a solid reason to remove him as an academy assistant. But that hadn't stopped Kenta from making his time as one a living hell, with weekly if not daily revenge pranks that even Naruto marvelled at, as someone so versed in Fūinjutsu it was literal child's play for him, and with the vast array of possibilities Fūinjutsu made available the outcome was always a sight to behold. For example a small explosive seal with a paint filler instead of shrapnel made for a great paint bomb, and when connected to a motion detecting seal and positioned above a door frame or hidden on a seat with Genjutsu, just before a certain silver haired instructor walked in or went to sit down, made for a hilarious outcome normally in neon pink or lime green, or for the seats a thicker mix of dark brown with a combined stink bomb made a rather convincing scene of the fool messing himself.

Of course all the regular pranking had made the silver-haired instructor weary, there had been a full week where he had come in using the window and didn't sit down for fear of traps, of course Kenta had fixed that by placing very low-powered explosive seals all over the room hidden by Genjutsu that he could trigger remotely meaning anywhere Mizuki stood he would suddenly jump in shock as a small bang made him jump, and to fix the window problem. Kenta had placed a very powerful stink bomb seal there, so the last time Mizuki had used the window to enter the classroom he was greeted by the most unpleasant smell imaginable before falling backwards out of the window, and hitting the ground two stories up. This had led to another stay in the hospital to recover.

And regardless of the Chūnin's attempts to get Kenta in trouble for the pranks, nothing had ever stuck given that the seals had disappeared in a blur of speed after they had gone off, so with no evidence all of Mizuki's claims had gone out the window with him.

Iruka of course, had his suspicions it was Kenta doing all the pranks on Mizuki over the years and approached him in private to ask that they stop. But the two had come to an arrangement, that as long as the pranks didn't disrupt the class and the class's marks didn't suffer for them they could continue, he quite enjoyed seeing the creativity that the older Uzumaki put into the pranks.

Clearing his throat as the class settled down into their seats, Iruka took a step forward, "First of all I would like to congratulate all of you for making it this far. The past four years have been challenging for most of you and that was for a reason to prove that each of had the potential to become shinobi and now you have all earned the right to take the next step in becoming just that a Genin of Konoha, as each of you know the test today will test the skills you have all learned throughout your time at the academy, your knowledge will be tested on a written paper, after which you will be taken out to test your skills with throwing weapons, before a Taijutsu spar to test your hand to hand combat, after which you will be required to perform each of the three academy Jutsu for the final portion, extra credit will be given to those who had put their own time into learning additional Jutsu and can demonstrate one in the final exam, now are there any questions?" Iruka asked as he looked around the room to see no hands raised, "Excellent, now let's…" Iruka started to say before multiple cries were heard from outside the school in the village, drawing everyone's attention.

Looking out the window's everyone's eyes widened at what they were seeing, the Hokage monument that stood over the whole village had been covered in multi-coloured graffiti from top to bottom in the most comical ways imaginable. But before anyone could say anything about it, more cries were heard from the village as everyone looked as multiple multicolours smoke explosions went off in chain reactions throughout the whole village as the smoke rose high into the air as cries and panicking screams could still be heard throughout.

The next second the door to the front of the classroom opened and a Chūnin stood in the doorway gasping for breath as his eyes dotted all over the room before finally settling on Naruto, who just smiled and gave him a little wave, as his mouth gaped open in confusion, "B-But how…" he muttered like the sight before him shouldn't have been possible.

Iruka blinked at the reaction before speaking, "Um can I help you with something?"

The Chūnin looked to Iruka, before pointing to Naruto, "Has he been here the whole time?" he asked in disbelief.

Not sure what the other Chūnin meant Iruka asked, "The whole time of what?"

"The pranking spree, nearly the whole village has been hit by it; half of the main street in the market district has been painted orange and the other half in bright green, several businesses have had smoke bombs go off in them along with an assortment of paint bombs, trees have been lined with underwear from multiple residents, and multiple homes have been swarmed with mice, and to top it all off the Hokage monument was vandalised with graffiti." The Chūnin listed off in horror.

Hearing the list of the pranks Naruto was barely suppressing his laughter with everyone else, Kiba was just laughing his ass off while Kenta was clutching his gut trying to hold it in and Sayaka was giggling with her hand over her mouth trying to hold back the worst of it.

"Well, I can't say we didn't see this coming." Sayaka whispered to Kenta through her giggles.

"At least he's making good use of his Kage Bunshin's," Kenta commented back whipping a tear from his eye, "he must have been planning this for weeks." Kenta said before he remembered something from a few years prior.

* * *

 **Flashback**

Naruto instantly cheered up, "Sure Nii-chan, you're still going to teach me how to do that Bunshin thing right?"

Kenta chuckled, "Of course Otōto what kind of Nii-chan would I be if I didn't help my Otōto." he laughed, "But only when we're in the last year of the academy, as much as I'd love to teach it to you now I don't think the villagers or Sarutobi-sensei would thank me for releasing a horde of pranking blonds on the village. With the chaos, just one of you can cause, imagine what a hundred of you would be able to do." Kenta explained only for both him and Naruto to shiver with excitement and slight pity for the villagers in the following months after Naruto learns that Jutsu.

Kenta turned to go back into his apartment leaving Naruto chuckling evilly with a wicked look in his eye, already scheming for his future pranking spree.

* * *

 **Flashback end**

"Or years." Kenta chuckled as he realised just when his Otōto had started planning this day.

Iruka sweat dropped as he heard the list before shaking himself out of it, "Sorry but, he's been here the whole time."

The Chūnin then looked to Naruto and back to Iruka, "You're sure?"

Iruka nodded, "Very, now if you don't mind we're trying to start the Genin exams here." he said in a formal tone.

The Chūnin nodded in apology before closing the door and taking off likely to report his findings and to help with the village clean up.

Iruka sighed before moving to his desk and lifting a stack of papers, "Sorry about that everyone, now let's get back to the exam." he said before handing half the papers to Mizuki as both instructors proceeded to start handing them out.

When Kenta finally got his paper he let out a low growl at what he felt. It was subtle but it was there, a low powered Genjutsu over the exam paper, which changed key elements of the questions. Kenta had to give the sneaky bastard credit; the Genjutsu was good if his chakra control was a little better he might not have felt it. He was had certainly done his best to sabotage the exam on him, but Kenta wasn't going to fall for it. And glancing over to Naruto, Kenta could see Naruto had also felt the Genjutsu over the exam paper, as both brothers nodded to each other and quickly dispelled the Genjutsu before getting to work.

Kenta already planning his revenge as he got to work, first he'd prank the hell out of the Teme for this last attempt, and then as the next chance he got he'd report this to the Hokage and get the idiotic fool put on permanent border patrol, this Genjutsu would be the last straw.

Ten minutes later Kenta had finished the exam paper that was set to take an hour for most students. Before he got up and headed to the front of the classroom with Midnight following close behind as he handed his paper over to Iruka with a nod and a glare at Mizuki who returned it, before walking out of the room his hand pulling one of the scrolls from its slot on his hip sash, if Mizuki wanted to mess with him he'd mess right back and it would be fun.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was forty-five minutes later, outside on the academy steps where Kenta, Naruto, Sayaka, Chōji, Kiba and Shikamaru had all gathered after finishing their exam, Midnight and Akamaru lay at their individual master's feet as Shikamaru and Kenta wrapped up their last game of shogi.

The Nara had finished his exam five minutes after Kenta but that had only been because he'd decided to sleep on an extra few minutes before starting the exam, before following the Uzumaki's lead out of the classroom to continue their game. The other's had followed shortly after in the following twenty minutes, leaving the rest of the class inside to continue their exams.

"And with that Victory is mine." Kenta said as he moved his final piece into place putting Shikamaru in checkmate.

Shikamaru's eyes darted over the board for a moment as he looked over the tiles to make sure before groaning as he fell backwards, only to lie down with his arms spread, "Damn, you're good, I never saw that coming and I was thinking seven moves ahead." Shikamaru said in disbelief.

Kenta smirked, "that's why I think with eight, all it takes is one step." Kenta said as he touched the scroll under the board and in a puff of smoke the board and pieces were sealed away before he slipped the scroll back onto his sash.

Naruto chuckled at the scene, "It's funny how this is the only time when you can actually be bothered to do anything Shika, the rest of the time you're asleep."

Shikamaru shrugged from the ground, "What can I say games with a good opponent are worth getting up for. Shame there'll be less of them after today with us graduating and all." he said sounding a little depressed.

Kenta smirked, "Yeah but we can always play them when we meet up. We still live in the same village, just got to time it is all."

No sooner had Kenta spoke a yell of "Shit!" was heard from the main entrance hall of the academy, before the sounds of multiple small explosions rang out as the doors of the academy building rattled slightly.

The teens all quickly moved to the doors opening them only to be met by a wall of multi colours smoke for flow out of them, and standing at the main desk of the hall was the slumped form of Mizuki covered in splatters of multicoloured paint and glitter with lifeless eyes, unable to comprehend what had just happened to him.

The doors of the main hall closed as all the teens fell back laughing at what they had just seen as they clutched their guts in laughter.

"Oh man! That was priceless Nii-chan! Best one yet!" Naruto said through fits of laughter.

"That was brilliant, serves the dumbass right." Kiba barked in laughter.

"Indeed, he certainly had that one coming." Sayaka giggled

"He was definitely sparkly." Chōji bellowed

"Speaking of timing." Shikamaru laughed in agreement.

Kenta just laughed as his seal combination had worked to perfection, "That worked brilliantly. I think that's what I'm going to miss most after graduating, using him as a guinea pig for my prank seals."

"More like Lab rat." Kiba barked in laughter

* * *

 **Scene break**

Five minutes later the rest of the class started to exit the building for the target portion of the exam, all were lining up for the explanation when everyone started laughing heavily as Mizuki came out, he had managed to change his clothes and wash off the paint, but this time Kenta had added something more to the mix, the paint was missed with an extra strength hair dye, so now the former silver-haired Chūnin was now sporting over several different hair colours at once, and the glitter was treated with high strength, water resistant glue, so he was still very sparkly.

Ignoring the laughing as he carried the box full of equipment Mizuki walked over to the target area setting the box down as he tried to keep his anger in check as he clenched his fists.

Iruka cleared his throat as he stifled his laughing, "Ok then, next is the target portion of the exam, you will each have five Kunai and five shuriken, and your targets are at varying distances down the range, the further the target is away the higher your score, the closer to the bull's-eye the higher your score, you will also be judged on your penetration the more targets you hit and the deeper you hit the better." Iruka explained, "Now as your names are called come up and take your throws, good luck to all of you."

Kenta stood with his hands behind his back in silence as he watched the other students throw and winced slightly at the civilian side of things, they could barely hit the targets half way down the range and they were barely having any penetration at all, they obviously hadn't been practicing and none of them was putting chakra into their throws for distance or penetration power. He'd have thought that at least one of them would have studied ahead but it appeared he was wrong.

Watching as the clan heirs took their throws was a bit more impressive, they hit the mid-range targets with ease and got good penetration, and some even managed to get a little further with good power, but none had managed to get the farthest targets yet.

Kenta watched as Sasuke took his position on the target line with an arrogant smirk on his face as he moved with average skill as he threw his weapons with speed down the range as he hit each target with near pinpoint accuracy, but the last kunai and shuriken veered wide and lodged just left and right of the final targets bull's-eyes, he had been the best in the class so far and turned around thinking he was perfect shooting a smug and superior glance at Kenta before he returned to his spot on the line.

Sayaka rolled her eyes at her brother's actions and moved to take her shots next, her projectiles already lined up in front of her, as she moved with speed and launched them down the range, three hitting each of the long range targets with power each piercing the dead centre of the targets, as the last one sailed through the air and slammed into the middle of the farthest target with force to spare.

The rest of the class clapped in appreciation for her skill as Iruka marked down her score, Sasuke seething in rage as he watched her go back to stand beside Kenta not even glancing his way. In his eye's she was saying he wasn't even worth her glance, while in actual fact she didn't want to look at him knowing he was likely glaring at her which he was.

Next was Naruto's turn and walking up to the line he checked over his tool nodding seeing that they weren't damaged or wrongly weighted like they had been in the past due to "poor management", before taking his throws, Kenta had been sure to train him well in all aspects of the academy classes outside of their time in class, and the practice was showing results as his projectiles threw through the air with power behind them as each of them actually demolished the targets they hit, going clean through them at the point of entry, they may not have been hitting the dead centre but it was clear the targets were very much dead.

Kenta smirked at the sight. He knew his Otōto had never been much for accuracy, but what he fails at in accuracy in his throws he more than makes up for with speed and power. Even if the weapon didn't hit his opponent's centre, it was very likely to go right through them he had trained him well.

Naruto walked back to his position with a victorious smirk on his face seeing the look of disbelief on most of their peer's faces at his shots, clearly not expecting such a powerful display, he'd always followed his Nii-chan's example never to draw attention to yourself unless you can help it. Not as if he had to try given how he had been wearing kill me now orange right up until that morning, so he never had to try for attention.

With his turn finally, Kenta walked up to take his shot smirking at Mizuki who had been glaring at him the whole time and decided to mess with him once more.

"You know Mizuki-san, you could just hide your new hair colour with Genjutsu until go can re-dye it. After all being a Chūnin I'm sure you're skilful at subtle forms of Genjutsu for all purposes." Kenta said as he narrowed his eyes on the multi-coloured Chūnin.

Mizuki's eyes widened as he heard the words and realised the message behind them, he'd seen through the Genjutsu he'd put on the exam before, his scowl deepening in anger at being discovered.

But Kenta just ignored the Chūnin as he turned to the target range and in under two seconds moved with speed that the others in the class couldn't follow, while Mizuki and Iruka barely did, as he launched all of his projectiles with speed, precision and power down the range each hitting the farthest targets down range starting from the furthest back and working their way forward as each projectile lodged itself three inches deep in the dead centre mass with force to make each target swing on their hooks showing how fast they'd been thrown.

The stunned silence from most of the class was expected as well as the cheers from Naruto, Sayaka and Kiba at the absolutely perfect scoring as Iruka marked it down while Kenta returned to his spot, fist bumping both Naruto and Kiba as he did so.

Iruka cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "Alright, next we move on to the Taijutsu part of the exam, the class will be divided in two and with divide amongst the two sparring rings where you will either face Mizuki or me in a three-minute sparring session, Taijutsu only, you will be judged on your counters, dodges, blocks and overall combat style and strategies in those three minutes, bonus marks will be awarded for any strikes that hit their mark and for lasting the full three minutes without being knocked out of the ring, now move to the left and right as I call out your names…."

After a further three minutes the class was divided up and lined up in front of either sparring ring, Sayaka and Naruto were in front of Iruka's ring while Kenta and Sasuke were in front of Mizuki's ring as one by one the students were called up to spar for the three minutes.

Kenta had ignored the civilian sparring for the most part, none of them lasted past the halfway point of the fight before being forced out of the ring, and Mizuki wasn't really giving them it light, and looked to actually be enjoying himself as he knocked the last student out of the ring in under forty seconds.

Kenta scowled while he knew the exams weren't meant to be easy he knew that Mizuki had his own agenda in fighting with speed, he wanted to fight him and get some payback for the extra strength paint bomb just before the throwing portion of the exam, Kenta smirked to himself, it was a good thing he wanted a piece of him as well.

But while he hadn't paid attention to the civilian matches he had been watching the other ring as Sayaka and Naruto had their matches with Iruka, Sayaka had been training with Anko more over the years and had incorporated her snake style into her own Taijutsu style that required her to be much more flexible, as such she moved with speed and precision as she weaved and dodged each of Iruka's strikes with near expert timing as she threw her own attacks back in the small openings that Iruka had left, lasting the full three minutes of the spar, Kenta knew she had the skill that if she wanted to she could easily have knocked Iruka out of the ring, and win the match in a shorter time, but she was doing what a shinobi does best and hide their skills till the opportune moment to strike.

In Naruto's spar Kenta watched as Naruto took on Iruka with power and defence, Kenta knew his style well, Naruto had never been one for speed when it comes to hand to hand fighting, no Naruto was a tank and a brawler, going in with his guard up and his limbs reinforced with chakra to blunt the impacts as he threw his own powerful blows back and replacing his guard not giving his opponent a chance at landing a damaging blow, all his and Sayaka's training on keeping his guard up had paid off as Naruto lasted the full three minutes also with Iruka rubbing his arm afterwards wincing at the impact of Naruto's last punch.

Turning back to his own ring Kenta watched the last couple of seconds of Sasuke's fight, as the Male Uchiha evaded an overhead swing from Mizuki and threw his own back only for Mizuki to dodge the kidney shots as the bell went. Kenta frowned at that, he could see that the punch was meant to go wide, it was well hidden but with his training he could see, Mizuki was only putting on the act of fighting with the last Uchiha, putting nowhere near the strength and speed that he had into fighting the civilian students, but making sure that Sasuke never landed any hits of his own, like he was baiting the Uchiha the entire fight like it was some hoaxed dance between them.

As the bell rang Sasuke walked off the ring with a scowl as Kenta walked on, he was the last and everyone was watching as some were hoping for a repeat of the first day as Mizuki and Kenta turned to face each other in the ring and the timer at the side re-set for three minutes.

The second the bell went Mizuki lunged for Kenta with a fierce right hook, Kenta narrowed his glare and moved accordingly as he moved his head to the side dodging the swing and stepping into Mizuki's reach as he drove his chakra laced fist into the Chūnin's gut hard. The impact was heard by all as Mizuki spluttered from the counter, but before he even had a chance to move to get out of range or guard Kenta brought his right elbow up into Mizuki's jaw line with force napping the Chūnin's head back as his left arm grabbed Mizuki's still outstretched right as Kenta's fist balled up and he pushed forward while pulling Mizuki back, his right fist impacting Mizuki's face with force twice over before Kenta released Mizuki's arm and spun on his right heal bringing his left foot up and around just as Mizuki was recovering from the slugs to the face before the next thing he knew Kenta's boot heel met with the side of his head and send him off his feet and out of the ring hitting the ground with a groan.

The crowd was silent as they looked from the ring to the timer just as the timer hit two fifty, ten seconds was all it had taken for Kenta to beat an adult Chūnin without taking any hits and delivering a knockout blow, needless to say, Iruka marked down full points as Mizuki was currently in no position to do so.

* * *

 **Scene break**

After Iruka had managed to rouse Mizuki from his unconscious state which Kenta had put him into, everyone had returned back inside for the final part of the exam, Ninjutsu, everyone was lined up outside of the classroom door along the wall and down the hall as each student was called in one at a time to take the final test, this had went by rather quickly as the numbers slowly dwindled down as a student went in one minute and came out the next either with a Hitai-ate or without, all depending on their exam results and their Jutsu capabilities.

Sasuke had just gone into the room and after a few minute Kenta, Sayaka and Naruto all heard the window of the classroom open and the roar of flames as Sayaka held her head in disbelief.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)** , I'd know the sounds of it anywhere." Sayaka said with a sigh.

Kenta shook his head, "Well it is his go to Jutsu, but you would have thought he'd have learned something more for his extra credit, a C-rank may be impressive got a Genin, but the **Gōkakyū** is a common Katon Jutsu, not very unique."

No sooner had Kenta spoken, the door to the classroom opened and Sasuke came out holding his Hitai-ate and shot Kenta a smirk of superiority before turning and heading for the exit.

Sayaka rolled her eyes at her brother's action before she started to walk to the classroom for her turn waving over her shoulder to Kenta, "Wish me luck." she said with a confident smile.

Kenta rolled his eyes in amusement, "Don't need to, you don't need It." he said with a laugh.

Sayaka shrugged her shoulders, "True it would be a bit overkill wouldn't It." she said before walking into the classroom.

Kenta leant back against the wall with Naruto by his side as he waited for his turn knowing it wouldn't take long, and less than thirty seconds later the door opened and Sayaka came out holding her own Hitai-ate smiling as she flashed it to Kenta who chuckled, "What did I say, told you ya didn't need luck."

Sayaka giggled before she turned and headed out as Kenta started towards the classroom with a confident smirk on his face, getting to the door he glances back to Naruto and gave him a wave as Naruto grinned back to him with a thumbs up, Kenta nodded and walked in while Midnight stayed by the doorway for him to return.

The classroom was empty except for the desk in front of the blackboard at the front of the class, on it there were a number of Hitai-ates each with the Konoha leaf symbol on their metal plating, behind the desk were both Iruka and Mizuki who watched Kenta come into the room and took his position in front of the two Chūnin instructors.

Iruka smiled at him, "Alright Kenta, we need you to perform the three academy Jutsu in order to pass and then one Jutsu of your own choosing should you perform them to satisfaction, start with the Henge, then Kawarimi, and then the Bunshin Jutsu."

Kenta nodded before without any hand signs at all he was covered in a plume of smoke after it disappeared moments later in Kenta's place stood a replica of Iruka who was flawlessly created with no differences between the original and the illusion.

Iruka got up and circled the Henged Kenta looking him over as he marked down details on his board before nodding in approval, "A flawless Henge Kenta and what's even more impressive is that it was done with no hand signs, very impressive." he complimented as he returned to his seat.

The Henge went up in smoke and blew away to reveal Kenta once more in his position.

Iruka nodded, "Now the Kawarimi if you would."

Kenta nodded before he once more was covered in smoke with no hand signs again, only this time when the smoke cleared it left a blinking Mizuki who was still sitting in his chair who looked around in shock at the sudden change in his location.

Iruka blinked and looked to his side where Mizuki had been moments ago, only to see Kenta leaning against the desk with his arms crossed with a small smirk on his face.

Iruka gave a single chuckle as he started to scribble down more notes, "Very impressive Kenta, performing a Kawarimi without hand signs and also replacing yourself with another person, quite a feat and demonstrates a high level of chakra control to pull it off so flawlessly, well done."

Kenta stood up from the desk and gave a small bow as he walked around Iruka and back to his spot on the floor all the time getting the stink eye from Mizuki who was walking back to his spot carrying his chair with him.

Iruka sighed, "Alright now the Bunshin Jutsu."

Kenta nodded before he smirked and formed the cross sign as he and the entire area in front of the desk went up in smoke and disappeared leaving four Kenta standing in front of the two Chūnin instructors, Iruka nodded, "Impressive clone, although I'm unfamiliar with that hand sign you used Kenta."

The Kenta's all smirked, "I would be surprised if you were Iruka-san", one said, "It is unique to this Jutsu," another spoke, "If you knew it without Hokage-Sama's permission you could get in a lot of trouble." the final finished.

Iruka blinked hearing all four Kenta speak before he looked to the ground and saw all four of them had shadows and his eyes widened, "They're solid, not illusions, the Kage Bunshin Jutsu, that's a B-rank Kinjutsu." he spoke as three of the clones went up in smoke.

Kenta nodded, "Correct Iruka-san, I learned it with Hokage-Sama's permission some years ago, it has been quite beneficial."

Iruka nodded as he jotted that information down, "Very good, all clone techniques are substitutable for that Jutsu, so you pass with full marks, all the same, now you may perform one Jutsu as your extra credit marks."

Kenta nodded before he made a half ram hand sign as his chakra formed outside of his hand and moulded into a clear liquid before he thrust his hand forward as the liquid stretched out towards the Chūnin's sitting behind the desk, both sat back at the sudden movement, but the liquid didn't reach them, instead it wrapped around one of the Hitai-ates before it pulled back taking it with it as it shot back to Kenta as he pulled his hand back and caught the Hitai-ate in the air with a smirk.

Iruka blinked before he chuckled, "Another impressive display Kenta, that was the **Suiton: Suiben (water style: Water Whip)** if I'm not mistaken, a C-rank Jutsu performed with only a single one handed hand sign, and with no water source to draw from as well, a very impressive display of chakra nature and shape manipulation, well done."

Kenta smirked, "I take it that mean's I can keep this then?" he said gesturing to the Hitai-ate with a chuckle.

Iruka nodded, "Of course you can, now go on and get out of here." he said with an amused chuckle.

Kenta nodded and headed out the door, Midnight rose to greet his master's return, as Kenta flashed both him and Naruto the Hitai-ate with a smirk.

Naruto grinned, "Congrats Nii-chan." Naruto called as Midnight gave a bark of agreement.

Kenta smirked, "Thanks, Otōto, no go in there and get yours and we'll catch ya outside, come on Midnight." he said as he and his partner started heading towards the exit.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Kenta smirked as he and Midnight came out of the academy front door as he finished tying on his Hitai-ate, letting his hair go over the sides as the metal plate was positioned on his forehead when he caught the sight of Sayaka who was waiting outside for him with Mikoto and Anko.

"There they are." Anko called as she saw them coming out the door, "Looking good with that Hitai-ate there." she smirked, "It's been a long time coming."

"Congratulations on passing Kenta, not that it was really a shock." Mikoto said with a smile

Kenta smiled, "Thanks, it has certainly been a long wait but well worth it to graduate together with everyone." he said before he looked around, "Where Sasuke, thought he would have at least waited with you two."

Anko rolled her eyes, "Duckbutt said he was going to train and ditched on them here didn't even stop when he came out heading right for the gate, rude little prick."

Sayaka shook her head; "He can't ever take a break from training for one minute. He's obsessed."

Mikoto sighed, "He's becoming more and more like Fugaku all the time, he had the same thirst for power when he was younger and it only got worse as he grew up, Sasuke is just the same."

Kenta frowned, "Well maybe he'll lighten up a bit on it now, we're out of the academy now so he'll have less time for it with missions. Training is good and all but what's the point if you don't have friends and a life outside of being a shinobi."

Mikoto smiles, "Well said Kenta, I just hope Sasuke realises that like you have."

Anko smirked, "We could always beat it into him make him realise it, could be fun." she grinned.

Mikoto sighed rubbing her forehead at Anko's antics while Kenta and Sayaka chuckled nervously at the seriousness of Anko's tone and knew she'd likely do it, but before they could respond the doors of the academy opened again, and they all looked to see Naruto but something was off as he came down the steps.

Kenta watched his Otōto coming down the steps with his head low his eyes down not meeting his older brother's gaze, something that confused Kenta and he knew something had happened as he moved to meet him.

"Otōto what's up, what's going on?" Kenta asked as he approached looking Naruto over with worry evident in his tone, but then it hit him the realisation that Naruto didn't have a Hitai-ate and confusion etched itself into his face, what was going on?

"I…. I failed." Naruto said sounding deflated and beaten, "I…I don't…" he started to say as he looked down as he tried to think about what'd just happened.

"What?" Kenta said shocked, "But how is that possible? You practiced those Jutsu for weeks on end; you could do all of those three in your sleep. Sure you can only manage a minimum of ten regular Bunshin at any one time, but with your reserves that's normal, don't tell me you failed cause of that, you could have just used the Kage Bunshin to compensate."

Naruto shook his head, "I did, it was going great all through the substitution and Henge but when I tried to do the Kage Bunshin, my chakra it just went haywire I couldn't control it and my Jutsu failed, I tried it again and it was the same thing, I just don't understand."

Kenta blinked as Naruto told him what had happened, and it wasn't adding up, he'd seen him do those Jutsu hundreds of times in training, something wasn't right, even though Naruto's chakra control was still poor for his chakra reserve size, that shouldn't have mattered, and the way Naruto described his chakra going haywire wasn't making sense also, chakra doesn't just do that, no something else was going on here.

Kenta put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, I'll talk to Sensei. This has to be a mistake, I can fix this, there's no way I'm letting my Otōto fail before his dream even gets started." Kenta said trying to reassure him, but to his shock Naruto batted his hand away.

"No you won't." Naruto said seriously making Kenta blink as Naruto looked at him seriously, "This is my fault Nii-chan. I'm the one who screwed up the Jutsu. There's no mistake, I'm the one who messed up, and I'm the one who's going to fix this. I don't want you coming to my rescue this time, I'm not some little kid anymore."

Kenta blinked hearing his tone, "Otōto I…" he started to say only for Naruto to cut him off.

"No Nii-chan, not this time. You've always been there for me since we were little, looking out for me and protecting me all those times we were in trouble even though we never did anything wrong. You always stood up for me and protected me and you always said that's what big brothers are for, but not this time Nii-chan. This time I'm the one who screwed up, I'm the one who has to deal with the consequences and fix this myself." Naruto said as he clenched his fists, "I can't always be in you shadow, I have to look out for myself and be more than just your little brother. I have to do this on my own otherwise I never be able to say I accomplished my dream on my own. Don't forget I said I'd become Hokage and then I'm going to beat you Nii-chan."

Kenta frowned listening to his Otōto voice his plea to do this on his own and looked down for a moment as he thought, sure he'd been protective of Naruto but what older sibling didn't look out for their younger brother or sister, it was only natural to him. He'd kept him safe when they were younger protecting him from bullies, standing up for him when the matron of the orphanage yelled at him for no reason, he'd just always done it not wanting his Otōto to be hurt. Sure he'd been rough on him in training but that was only to a certain extent only using Senbon to train his stamina and always making sure to be careful not to cut too deep with Kunai in training, but that was just he wanting Naruto to be ready when he finally graduated so he'd be prepared for any mission. He always protected his Otōto, it was what he did, but he realised he was right he couldn't do it anymore; he had to stand on his own two feet.

Kenta nodded, "Ok Otōto, if this is what you want I'll step back and let you sort this yourself, but you'd better fix this or so help me I'll kick your ass so hard you'll be constipated for a month got it."

Naruto gave his patented D grin, "You got it Nii-chan. Don't you worry, I'll become a shinobi one way or another, Believe it." he said before he took off with a passion running out of the academy grounds

Kenta just stood there watching as Naruto left but as soon as he was out of sight Kenta sighed and shook his head, as Mikoto, Anko and Sayaka came up behind him.

Sayaka put her hand on his shoulder, "Kenta-Kun, are you ok?" she asked concerned.

Kenta nodded his head, "Yeah I'm fine Sayaka-chan, just worried is all. He may be able to look after himself now, but I can't help but worry about him."

Mikoto smiled, "That's what older siblings and parents are meant to do, you need to let him have his space and learn what the world's like without you there to hold him up and be there for him to help him when things get too rough for him to do it alone."

Kenta nodded, "I know, its just being there for him has always been second nature to me, guess I can't be anymore he's all grown up."

Anko smirked, "Ah quit your worrying, the Gaki will be fine, he'll sort this shit out in no time. And if he doesn't then you can fix it for him, there's nothing to worry about."

Kenta smirked, "Yeah you're right Anko-chan, thanks." he said giving her an appreciated nod.

Sayaka smiled seeing Kenta cheering up slightly and knew it was best to take his mind off this for a while as she took his hand, "Come on Kenta-Kun, we've got that celebration BBQ meal to go to with the others."

Kenta chuckled, "Alright Sayaka-chan I'm coming." he said as she practically dragged him away before they stopped at the gate and Sayaka looked back to her mother.

"I'll be home later Kaa-chan, is that ok?" Sayaka called back.

Mikoto giggled seeing her daughter drag Kenta away and nodded, "Yes that's fine, Sayaka. You two go have fun; I'll have a small celebratory meal for us to share when you get home. And both Naruto and Kenta are welcome to join us as well." she said with a smile.

Kenta smiled at the invitation, "Thanks, Mikoto-san we'll be there." he said as Sayaka dragged him away as soon as she got confirmation.

Mikoto and Anko smiled as they watched the two go, but the second they were out of sight, Anko frowned, "Something's not right here."

Mikoto nodded, "Agreed, from the sounds of it, someone was interfering with Naruto-Kun's chakra control in the exam."

Anko scowled, "But now the questions are who, how, and why? I doubt it's for simple vengeance against what he holds."

Mikoto shook her head, "Indeed, if I didn't know any better I'd say someone was planning something involving Naruto-Kun, but the question is what."

Anko crossed her arms, "I'm not sure. Do you want me to do some looking into it?"

Mikoto gave a single nod, "Yes but do so discretely. We don't want to tip off whoever is behind this, and take whatever evidence you find straight to Hokage-Sama before you come to me with it, he should know first."

Anko nodded, "Hai, Mikoto-sama." she replies before disappearing into a Shunshin as Mikoto did the same seconds after.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was four hours later as the streets were getting dark, inside of one of the largest BBQ restaurants in town where the group of newly graduated Genin sat around the table grill as the smell of succulent juicy meats filled the air as they sizzled on the grill, as the group chatted amongst themselves.

"Man I can't believe we finally graduated, fucking A." Kiba cheered in celebration with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Yeah, four years in a classroom makes you want to go nuts." Chōji agreed as he put some more meat on the grill.

"Eh it wasn't that bad." Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he took a drink.

"Yeah says the guy who spent about eighty percent of class time sleeping and the other twenty playing shogi with Kenta." Kiba joked as that got the group laughing in agreement as Shikamaru sighed "Troublesome."

Sayaka giggled at the joking and banter among the group and looked to see if Kenta was enjoying himself but instead he had a far off look in his eyes as he glanced out the window for a moment, Sayaka frowned, "Kenta-Kun, what's wrong?" she voiced as the others looked seeing Kenta's gaze as well.

Her voice snapped Kenta out of his distant trance and back to reality, "Hm, what... Oh sorry guys, I just have some things on my mind is all, sorry if I'm ruining the celebration."

Sayaka frowned, "You're still worried about Naruto-Nii aren't you?"

Kenta frowned and nodded, "Yeah, I just can't shake the feeling that something isn't right, and the more I think about it the more it just doesn't add up."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean Kenta, what's not adding up for you?"

Kenta crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, "It's just how he failed, it doesn't add up. Even if he screwed up the last Jutsu that shouldn't have failed him, never mind the fact I've seen him do it before a hundred times over, but it's the numbers that aren't doing it. Even with that last Jutsu failing he should have had more than enough of a percentage of a pass to get through the exams, I've drilled him into the ground in Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Shuriken and kunai throwing, we all saw him pass the second test with ease, and In the past year we've used Kage Bunshin to help his class work and stay up late at night revising our notes and learning more. So there's no way he flunked the written test, so with all that there's no way that flunking a single Jutsu would have failed him."

Shikamaru frowned, "You're right it's not adding up."

Kiba crossed his arms, "I saw his match with Iruka. He lasted the full three minutes like the rest of us except for Kenta."

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome, even if he flunked the written test, which is highly unlikely, it's only thirty percent of our marks. The other seventy is made up in the other three, twenty in the throwing test, another twenty-five in the Taijutsu spar and then twenty-five more in the Jutsu test, even if he failed one Jutsu he would have still gotten marks for the others, so unless he completely failed every question in the written exam he would still have gotten above the fifty-five percent passing mark for the exam, something's not right."

Kenta nodded, "Exactly, now you see why something's not adding up."

Sayaka frowned "Maybe Iruka and Mizuki made a mistake in the exam marking?" she suggested.

Kenta blinked hearing that as the word's "Mizuki" and "marking" ran through his head and he frowned, 'No he wouldn't have done something like that would he… he already tried to sabotage us both with a Genjutsu, so screwing with the results isn't that big a stretch, but surely Iruka would have caught him marking right exam questions wrong….' Kenta thought to himself before he stood up, "Sorry guy's I gotta go and check something." he said as he went to move out of the booth, "I'll see you all at the team placements."

Sayaka stood up, "Hold on Kenta-Kun, I'm coming too." she said as she moved out of the booth and went to him, "I'm worried about Naruto-Nii too."

Kenta nodded, "Ok, come on." he said as he, Sayaka, and Midnight took off out of the restaurant heading for the Uzumaki's apartment.

* * *

 **Time skip**

It was only another ten minutes before the trio found themselves coming around the side of the apartment block, Kenta still deep in thought as they walked. Sayaka looked to him concerned.

"Kenta-Kun, what are you planning to do anyway?" She asked with a small frown not sure of what they could do to help Naruto become a shinobi.

Kenta frowned, "I'm not sure Sayaka-chan, but I'm my guess is right, then Mizuki sabotaged Otōto's written exam in the marking process so that he'd fail. Even after both Otōto and I noticed the Genjutsu on our papers."

Sayaka blinked at that, "Genjutsu on the papers, what are you talking about?"

Kenta sighed, "Both mine and Otōto's exam papers had a subtle Genjutsu on the, changing key aspects of the questions so that we'd put in the wrong answers and fail the exam, I felt the chakra over the paper and so did Otōto be both dispelled the Genjutsu after feeling it. I was planning to report it to Hokage-Sama the next time I see him, but now I'm thinking that Mizuki tried something else after his first attempt failed, but he only did so to Otōto and not me for some reason."

Sayaka clenched her fists, "That Teme, he sabotaged Naruto-Nii's exam," she growled out, "When I see him I'm going to roast him with my Katon Jutsu."

Kenta smirked, "Get in line, I've got first swings on the Teme. But for now I need to talk to Otōto find out what he plans on doing or if he's fixed this on his own before I do anything." Kenta said as they approached the corner of the apartment block.

But as they did the three of them looked up as the window of Naruto's apartment opened and a translucent blur shot out of it with speed, Kenta squinted his eyes as the blur shot from the window to the rooftop across the street and then continued onward, Kenta's eye's focussed on it as he reached out with his senses feeling the chakra signature and his eyes widened.

"Otōto?" Kenta said in confusion

"Was that Naruto-Nii?" Sayaka asked in confusion

Kenta nodded, "Yeah, with his **Tōton Jutsu (Transparency Jutsu)** up, I wonder where he's going at this time of night?"

"Should we follow? He might need our help?" Sayaka asked as they watched the Naruto blur shoot from rooftop to rooftop heading for the Hokage tower.

Kenta nodded, "Yeah, something doesn't feel right, let's move." Kenta said as his mood and tone turned serious and the three of them jumped from the street to the rooftops and took off after Naruto a few minutes behind him.

Stopping just outside the Hokage tower Kenta used his sensory ability to watch Naruto as he scaled the outside of the Hokage tower with chakra on his feet and made his way up to a higher level of the building before sneaking in through one of the windows.

Kenta frowned, _'What are you doing Otōto, why are you sneaking around like this?'_ Kenta thought to himself before he looked to Sayaka and started to run through a series of silent hand signs which she recognised as the ANBU hand signs that her mother had taught them in their second year at the academy, Kenta was signing, "Follow my lead, silent and quick", Sayaka nodded in response as they both ran through a series of hand signs and disappeared from sight in a shimmer of air followed by Midnight a second after.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Naruto moved silently under the cover of his Tōton Jutsu as he moved through the shadows heading to a door deep in the middle of the building, slipping inside as he left the door open behind him for a quick exit, his goal ahead of him sitting on a platform at the far side of the room, a large scroll with a red sash around its middle.

The air shimmered and the Jutsu faded to reveal Naruto standing in front of the Scroll with a frown as he looked the scroll over, before he reached out taking it and securing it to his back.

Little did he know about in the rafters he was being watched by Kenta, Sayaka and Midnight who were concerned with what they were seeing?

"Otōto what are you doing?" Kenta voiced quietly

"It looks like he's stealing that scroll, whatever it is?" Sayaka voiced, "But I don't understand why?"

Kenta shook his head, "Neither do I, this just doesn't add up, and neither does the security here, this was way too easy for us to sneak in here. Where are all the ANBU?"

Before Sayaka could respond, everything went silent as the sound of footsteps were heard, everyone looked to the door to see a lone shadow approaching the door as the Hokage stepped into the doorway looking around in confusion as to why the door was open, only for his eyes to fall on Naruto.

"Naruto…" Hiruzen started to speak only for Naruto to react and turned around forming a hand sign, and he went up in a puff of smoke.

Kenta blinked realising what the Jutsu his Otōto was about to use and pinched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment as the smoke cleared revealing Naruto's altered Henge transformation.

In his place stood a beautiful blond girl with wisps of smoke all around her, her blond hair tied back in two ponytails, she had a slender figure with a generous bust and gentle features, her eyes were baby blue and she had Naruto's trademark whisker birthmarks on her cheeks.

Seeing the sudden transformation the entire room was silent for several seconds before Hiruzen's eyes bulged at the sight in front of him and he shot back on as a torrent of blood shot out of his nose with force propelling him back as he crashed to the floor out cold and twitching.

Up in the rafters Kenta was still rubbing the bridge of his nose in utter disbelief and embarrassment, _'He actually used that Jutsu, and Sarutobi-sensei fell victim to it… I have a hentai as a sensei; the Sandaime Hokage is a hentai. He should be called Taoretakage (Perverted shadow).'_

Sayaka, on the other hand, looked down in utter disbelief and confusion at what had just happened before her sense caught up with her and she looked to Kenta, "W-W-What the hell was that?" Sayaka spluttered.

Kenta sighed, "That was the Jutsu Otōto's been working on for the past few months, he calls it the **Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy technique)** a modified Henge technique. He created it to subdue perverts and creeps who piss him off. Seeing as most of those guys don't have good self-restraint and thus what just happened happens to them." _'Although I never though Sarutobi-sensei would fall victim to it.'_

Sayaka's eyebrow twitched slightly hearing that explanation, "I'll have to have a word with Naruto-Nii about the uses of such a… crude Jutsu, when I get the chance." she said with slight anger before looking to Kenta with a narrow glare that screamed danger, "You better not have anything like that in your Jutsu arsenal that you have kept from me."

Kenta scoffed, "Of course not. We both know I prefer to knock my enemies out with a strong right hook over perverted blood loss. If I recall that's your preferred method as well."

Sayaka smirked, "Guilty." she said in amusement as they watch Naruto slip past the passed out old pervert before using his Tōton Jutsu again and making for the nearest exit for his escape with Kenta, Sayaka and Midnight in pursuit.

* * *

 **Scene break**

After half an hour of running through the trees north of the Hokage monument, Naruto stopped in a small clearing with a small shed that looked to be abandoned.

Naruto stopped and looked around frowning not seeing anyone about only to turn when he hears a sound and looked around to see Kenta, Sayaka and Midnight land in the clearing just a few feet behind him and sighs a breath of relief, "Phew, it's just you guys. What are you doing-" Naruto started to ask but stopped when he saw the look in his brother's eye.

"I could ask you the same thing, Otōto." Kenta said his tone serious, "Cause it looks to me that you've just done something monumentally stupid, like stealing the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of Seals) from the Hokage tower."

Sayaka moved and put her hand on Kenta's shoulder, "Hold on a minute Kenta-Kun, let him explain himself first before we jump to conclusions. What is that scroll anyway?"

Kenta frowned, "it's the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of Seals), one of Konoha's most dangerous items. It contains a list of all of Konoha's Kinjutsu (Forbidden techniques) as well as its post powerful and dangerous Fūinjutsu; it was created and sealed away by the Shodaime Hokage Hashirama Senju. It is law that no one may look at its contents unless given permission by the Hokage, it is never allowed to leave the Hokage tower and it was meant to be guarded by ANBU when it is taken from its stand. Naruto has essentially committed treason for taking the scroll and broken three village laws in the process." he stated in a hardened tone his eyes set on Naruto, "So I ask, what the hell do you think you're doing Naruto?"

Naruto's eye widened before he held up his hands, "It's not what it looks like Nii-chan honest. This was all Mizuki's plan."

Both Sayaka and Kenta's eyes widened hearing that and Sayaka spoke first, "Naruto-Nii, I think you'd better start explaining and quickly. What exactly you mean by Mizuki's plan?"

Naruto nodded, "It all happened after I left the academy…"

* * *

 **Flashback Jutsu**

Naruto was frowning as he looked out over the village from the top of the Hokage monument, it had been half an hour since he flunked the exam and was trying to think of some way to fix this, _'What do I do now? Do I go to Jiji and ask him if he can fix this? That's what Nii-chan was planning to do wasn't it? Maybe I can just go to Iruka-sensei and ask to retake the last part of the exam again, would that even be possible?'_ Naruto thought to himself.

But before Naruto could make his decision he felt a chakra source behind him and he jumped to his feet his hand on his Ninjatō and the first inch of the blade gleamed as Naruto started to pull it from its sheath ready at a moment's notice only to stop when Mizuki came through the bushes, "Easy there Naruto it's only me."

Seeing Mizuki Naruto's eyes narrowed on him, he had never liked Mizuki and the feeling was mutual, so the question was, "What do you want?" Naruto asked as Mizuki came out towards him.

Mizuki half smiled, half sneered cockily at Naruto, "I just wanted to come and tell you that there's is a way for you to become a Genin if you're interested. A second exam that you can take which is optional for you as your marks were so close to the passing limit."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, _'A second exam?'_ "What kind of test?"

Mizuki's smirk grew, "Oh a very special test that tests your espionage capabilities. The objective is to sneak into a heavily guarded facility and steal "important documents" and make it to the extraction point."

Naruto gritted his teeth hiding his anger, _'This Teme is trying to set me up as a traitor, tricky son of a…'_ "And what documents would I be stealing, and where would I be stealing them from?" Naruto asked wanting more information.

Mizuki shrugged, "Oh nothing really, it's just a Document storage scroll from the Hokage tower. Sneak in there later tonight, take it, and wait for me in a little clearing north of the Hokage monument. Once I verify it's the correct scroll then you pass. It's that simple."

Naruto nodded while inwardly scowling, _'Breaking into the Hokage tower that's one law. Stealing important documents that is another law. Two laws in one go and then taking off with them makes me a Nuke-nin, I'd be hunted like a dog if I was caught and likely executed for being a traitor. But I don't exactly have a lot of options here if I do go through with this Jiji would know I'd never betray the village, he'd never brand me a nuke-nin and chances are I'd never be able to get past the ANBU guarding the tower…. But it would be fun to test my skills, I'll just have to see where this goes.'_

* * *

 **Flashback end**

"And that's how it all went down, I assume you know the rest?" Naruto said as he finished explaining.

Kenta sighed, "So that's it, you've been made into a patsy for this and it looks like Mizuki-Teme is a total traitor to Konoha. Well it's a rather big jump from just a Teme to a traitorous Teme but I can't say I never put it past him. This is worse than what I had expected though."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah I know, I had actually never thought I'd make it this far even with my Tōton Jutsu and stealth. I was going to stop when Jiji caught me, but my instincts took over. I can't believe Jiji actually fell for my **Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy technique)** , guess Jiji's a closet hentai." Naruto said as he started to chuckle only to be cut short when a fist impacted the top of his head and he hit the ground with a groan with Sayaka standing over him.

Naruto looked up and gulped seeing her with a sweet smile on her face, "Naruto-Nii, you are never to use that Jutsu when you are in my presence again. Do. You. Understand. Me?" Sayaka spoke in a sweet tone that promised pain, Naruto nodded rapidly.

Sayaka turned to a sweat dropping Kenta pulling a one-eighty in personality going from scary to serious, "What do you want to do now Kenta-Kun? We should probably take the scroll back to Hokage-Sama and get that traitorous Teme arrested."

Kenta nodded, "It's an idea… or~" Kenta said as a smirk came to him, "We could do our duty as Genin of Konoha and apprehend the Teme red handed when he comes for the scroll and expose him for the traitor he is. When we drag his sorry ass back to the village and drop him at Hokage-Sama's feet."

Naruto grinned, "Oh I like that plan, it will give us plenty of payback on the shitty Teme for using me as his scapegoat and all the other stuff he's done over the past four years."

Kenta nodded, "Agreed, but first things first." he said as he walked over to Naruto and took out one of the scrolls from his sash and unfurled it, "We need to swap the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of Seals) for a fake. No way we're using the real deal in a sting like this, it's too valuable and dangerous to risk." he said as he opened up one of the empty storage seals and gestured for Naruto to bring him the scroll.

Naruto set the scroll down on the seal as Kenta channelled his chakra as the seal activated and the scroll went up in smoke sealing the larger scroll within it. Kenta nodded and rolled the scroll up replacing it back in its slot and taking another scroll out and opening it to a second seal before releasing its contents as a scroll the size of the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of Seals) came out.

"We can use a Henge on this scroll to make it look like the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of Seals), it will be enough to fool the Teme till we can take him in." Kenta explained as he closed up the second scroll

Sayaka nodded, "Ok we have a plan, now let's make a plan B, never can be too careful in situations like these."

Kenta nodded in agreement as they quickly started planning their plan B.

* * *

 **Time skip**

It was another hour and a half later and their trap had yet to be sprung, Naruto was sitting in the middle of the area board out of his mind while hidden in the tree line, Kenta, Sayaka and Midnight were waiting patiently for the traitor to show himself.

Kenta was sitting on a branch with his eyes closed as he reached out with his sensory abilities feeling for any approaching chakra sources, they were far enough away from the village so as not to be detected by standard patrols. Something that Kenta found odd that there hadn't been any patrols coming out their way, _'Something's not right, Sarutobi-sensei should have woken up ages ago and raised the alarm after he discovered what Otōto took. So why are the patrols scattering in search for him and the scroll? Unless they are and just not in the right direction, but why would that be?'_ Kenta thought to himself before his eyes opened as he felt a chakra signature approaching their position, Kenta looked to Sayaka and started signing to tell her what was going on.

Down on the ground, Naruto sighed once more as he waited for the traitor to show up already so they could beat his sorry ass for this, he was starting to actually fall asleep it was taking so long. When suddenly his eye's widened as he heard someone burst from the tree line and land a few meters in front of him, Naruto looked up to see Iruka coming towards him not looking happy.

"Finally I've found you." Iruka said as he walked towards Naruto, "Do you have any idea what you've done you idiot."

Naruto frowned, "Yeah I know, played right into that traitor, Mizuki's, plan to use me as a patsy."

Iruka stopped on the spot hearing that, "What do you mean patsy?"

Naruto sighed, "Mizuki-Teme approached me after I failed the exam. He said there was another exam I could take to become Genin and all I had to do was take this scroll and bring it here and wait for him to arrive. I realised what was going on while I was waiting and trying to figure out what to do next."

Iruka's eyes went wide hearing that as he processed the information he had just been given, it was in this moment that he was distracted, and when multiple shuriken and kunai came out of the shadows.

Iruka didn't see them, but Naruto did and he reacted as he pulled his Ninjatō and moved to behind Iruka and deflected each one with speed, skill, and precision.

Up in the treeline Kenta smiled as he saw his brother take action, _'And he thought I was wasting time teaching him how to do that, looks like it's paying off now isn't it.'_ he mentally chuckled as he watched.

After the last shuriken had hit the ground Mizuki landed on one of the lower tree branches with a sneer plastered across his face, "So you discovered my little plan. Your more intelligent than I gave you credit for, but then that wasn't every much to begin with."

With the confirmation from Mizuki, Iruka turned pulling his own Kunai, "So that's the way it is huh? I should have known!"

Mizuki scoffed at Iruka before narrowing his gaze on Naruto, "Hand over the scroll you little bastard and I might just let you live."

Naruto held up his Ninjatō glaring at Mizuki, "Never going to happen traitor! You're going to pay for your crimes." Naruto yelled.

Mizuki growled at the statement, but before he could comment again two figures burst from the treeline from above Mizuki who looked up to see both Kenta and Sayaka flashing through hand signs before calling out their attack.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (** **Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique).** " Sayaka called as she spewed a large fireball from her mouth.

" **Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Style:** **Drilling Air Bullet).** " Kenta yelled as he shot a high-powered blast of air at Mizuki.

The two attack shot at Mizuki as their paths connected and the new air source caused the fireball to grow in size tenfold, Mizuki's eyes widened as it came at him, barely able to move out of the way in time to avoid the hit and narrowly dodge the flames from the impact as he dropped to a lower branch avoiding the flames but no sooner had he landed a twisting form of claws and teeth shot at him from below severing the branch from the tree taking away Mizuki's foothold making him fall to the ground flat on his face.

Sayaka and Kenta landed on the ground in front of Naruto and Iruka both dropping into a stance ready to act the twisting form swirled in the air before slowing down and turning again as it stopped in between Sayaka and Kenta revealing Midnight growling angrily in Mizuki's direction, as the Chūnin got to his feet.

Iruka looked shocked seeing them come out of the tree line and then even more so at the Katon and Fūton combo Jutsu, the result of which was currently burning the tree line. Snapping back to the situation Iruka looked to them in shock, "What are you three doing out here?" he asked wanting answers.

Kenta kept his eye's forward not taking his gaze off Mizuki, "We found Otōto an hour and a half ago and put together what was going on and decided to put together a little trap for this Teme to walk into so we could take him in. So far things are going as planned."

Mizuki scoffed at Kenta's statement, "I see, I should have guessed the Demon brat's protective big brother and his Uchiha whore would be close by, oh well it doesn't matter now, just hand over the scroll and I'll be on my way. I might even let you all live."

Iruka raised his kunai before speaking, "No matter what we can't let Mizuki get the scroll! It contains forbidden Jutsu that can put this village in grave danger!" Iruka started explaining

Kenta lowered his hand to his belt ready to pull his sword, "We know what the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of Seals) contains Iruka." Kenta spoke as his gaze hardened on Mizuki, 'What I'm not getting is what a weakling like him wants with it. Half the Jutsu and techniques in there are way out of his league and the other half require expertise and/or chakra reserves that only a Kage level shinobi would possess. So either he's completely stupid and doesn't know this or he's working for someone to retrieve the scroll and wants to take it to them.'

Mizuki started to chuckle at the sight before him before turning his gaze to Naruto, "You shouldn't listen to them Naruto, they just don't want you to have the scroll. Just hand it over to me."

Iruka scowled, "Stop lying Mizuki! Don't let him trick you Naruto!" Iruka said over his shoulder to Naruto.

Naruto smirked, "Don't worry about me Iruka-sensei, I'm not buying a single word out of this lying Teme's mouth"

Mizuki started chuckling to himself, "Hahahahaha! Oh, I'll tell you who's really lying." He spoke with a hidden meaning, confusing the teens as to what he mean.

Iruka's eye widened in realisation of what he was about to do "No Mizuki!"

Both Kenta and Sayaka glanced to each other confused, both with no clue as to what was going on, but neither let their guard down as Mizuki continued. "They have been lying to you your whole life Naruto. Since the decree by the Hokage sixteen years ago."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he gripped his Ninjatō harder "What decree?" he asked with a hard tone.

Mizuki smirked, "Every adult in the village knows about it. Iruka is trying to hide it from you even now." Mizuki said as he pointed at Iruka, "He'd do anything to shut me up!"

Kenta shifted the angle of his stance so both Iruka and Mizuki were in his line of sight before he spoke, "What's he talking about Iruka-san? What's this decree that lord Hokage made, and what's it got to do with Naruto?" Kenta asked his worry evident in his tone.

Iruka shook his head, "I can't say. Lord Hokage forbid everyone from evening mentioning it, it's punishable by death for any to speak about It." he explained with a frown.

Naruto hardened his features hearing that and looked from Iruka to Mizuki, "What is this decree? Why does everyone else know about it?" he asked voice hardened

Iruka's eyes widened hearing Naruto's question, "Don't tell him it's forbidden!"

But Mizuki just ignored him, "The decree is no one can tell you the Kyūbi no Yōko is inside you!"

The clearing was silent as everyone's eyes widened hearing what Mizuki had said. The air tensed as the secret was revealed before Mizuki continued, "The fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body! You are the Kyūbi no Yōko!"

"STOOOP IT!"Iruka yelled seeing the look on his former student's faces.

But Mizuki didn't stop, "They've all been sneaking around hiding things from you, your whole life. Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like dirt! Like they hated you for just being alive!"

Kenta's mind was spinning hearing that as his thoughts ran a mile a minute, _'It all makes sense now. All the times we were attack when we were younger, the overcharging by the shops, the hateful glares from the adults, why they treated Naruto, us, like that. But why didn't Sarutobi-sensei tell me? Why is it taught that the Kyūbi no Yōko was killed by the… Wait the books didn't say killed they said… Defeated'_ "So that's what it meant." Kenta said out loud as his thought finally started to make sense, "That's why the textbooks read that the Kyūbi no Yōko was "Defeated" by the Yondaime, not killed but defeated. He was a high-level Fūinjutsu practitioner, he didn't kill it and he defeated it by sealed it inside of…" Kenta said in a low voice.

"Inside of me." Naruto finished his eyes wide and his breathing short and shallow in fear.

Both Kenta and Sayaka looked back and saw it, the pure terror and fear etched across Naruto's face, at the realisation of what Mizuki had said being the truth, but before they could even say a word he reacted and took off at high speed jumping to the tree tops and going as fast as he could away from the place in fear.

"Naruto!" Iruka called only for his cry to be cut short when he leaped to the side to dodge a large Fūma Shuriken thrown by Mizuki who took advantage of the distracted Iruka, but Mizuki smirked seeing him move before he pulled back his hand through the air and Kenta caught sight of the shimmering line of Ninja wire leading to the throw Fūma Shuriken.

Kenta reacted pulling his sword and in an upward slash cut the wire but a second too late as the sharp tug had pulled the Fūma Shuriken in a different direction as it pulled a wide birth and came right at Iruka who didn't have time to react before it hit him dead in the centre of the red spiral on the back of his Chūnin flak jacket.

With a snarl Midnight leaped into the air and started spinning heading right at Mizuki who only just got out of the way of the **Tsūga** attack, but no sooner had Mizuki dodged, Midnight stopped spinning and landed on the spot that he attacked and pushed off his hind legs following Mizuki with his fangs bared as it went for the Chūnin's throat.

Mizuki snarled pulling a kunai as he re positioned himself in the air to dodge the bite and went to slash at the wolf-like dog, but before his blade made contact, the pointed end of Kenta's whip sword swung with speed blocking the kunai and knocking it off course before Mizuki and Midnight landed, Midnight immediately leaping backwards and landing beside Kenta who pulled the handle of his sword as the whip retracted forming a solid blade once again.

Behind them, Sayaka knelt by Iruka's side and sighed in relief, "You're lucky Mizuki's a crap shot and the Chūnin flak jackets are so thick. The blade missed your spine by a couple of centimetres."

Iruka winced in pain, "Don't worry about me, you two need to go after Naruto and protect the scroll. It's more important, Naruto's scared and he need's you more than I do. GO."

Sayaka looked to Kenta and Kenta looked over his shoulder with a hardened glare before nodding, "Ok, Sayaka, Midnight, let's move." he ordered as they all took off heading up into the trees and started branch hopping in the direction Naruto went.

Mizuki chuckled watching them go, "Do you really think those three brats and that flea bag can keep me from that scroll? Their deaths are on you." Mizuki said as he walking leisurely towards the trees.

Iruka forced himself up with a smirk, "You're forgetting those three were in the top portion of their class, and one of them has constantly gotten the better of your for the past four years if you think it's going to be easy you'd best think again."

Mizuki sneered at the comment before he jumped up to a branch and took off in the direction they went, as Iruka groaned in pain with the Fūma shuriken still in his back, only for his head to jerk when he hears movement and looks to the other side of the clearing as both Sayaka and Kenta came out from behind the shed walking over to them and Iruka's eyes widened.

"What do you two think you're doing? You were meant to be going to help Naruto." Iruka strained a yell seeing them still there.

Kenta narrowed a glare on the Chūnin, "Relax Iruka, we're just Kage Bunshins that the originals left behind. The plan B, we were meant to cage Mizuki in as a backup plan but then things changed when you got here. So shut it and let us patch you up."

Iruka winced at the tone Kenta was using only to grit his teeth in pain as the Sayaka Bunshin pulled the shuriken out of his back and started to heal the injury with a medical Jutsu, as it was happening Iruka watched Kenta keep a scowl narrowed on him the entire time a guessed what it was about.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about the decree. You have to understand it's the law that no one can…" Iruka started to explain before the Kenta clone held up his hand.

"Save it Iruka, now is not the time nor the place for that. Right now we're going to patch you up and send you on your way to help our originals. Once you're gone we'll dispel and let them know you're on the move." Kenta said his gaze turning away from Iruka who frowned but understood the mission and objectives came first.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Naruto was moving with speed through the tree branches and had already covered three kilometres before he finally came to a stop on a large tree branch to catch his breath, his mind was racing and he was still holding the fake scroll as what he'd been told raced through his mind, the terror of it all so real and daunting he couldn't think straight.

But before he could start running again, Sayaka landed on one side of him a few feet away on the same branch and Kenta and Midnight landed on the other side crouched down.

"Otōto, it's alright. Everything's going to be ok." Kenta started to say trying to calm Naruto down as he approached him.

Naruto's head turned to him, worry and terror-stricken across his face, "Stay back. I-I I don't want to hurt you two, I-I don't know what's going on anymore, I-I…."

Kenta frowned, "Otōto!" he said making Naruto stiffen and look to his brother who's frown turned into a small smile, "You're not going to hurt us, no matter what Mizuki-Teme said, you aren't the Kyūbi no Yōko."

Sayaka nodded her head in agreement, "He's right Naruto-Nii, that Teme was probably just lying trying to mess with your head."

Naruto shook his head, "N-No he wasn't lying." Naruto said as his hand went to his stomach, "I can feel it now and everything fits, the reason why Nii-chan and I are treated like we are, our birthdays lying right on the anniversary of the Kyūbi no Yōko's attack on the village, I…. I am the…"

"No you aren't you Baka." Kenta growled/yelled, "Don't you remembered anything I said? The Yondaime was a high-level practitioner of Fūinjutsu the sealing arts. Naruto, remember what I taught you about sealing. The Kyūbi no Yōko is sealed inside of you like a kunai is sealed inside a scroll for travel or storage. Just because the kunai is in the scroll doesn't make the scroll the kunai, it's the same with the Kyūbi and you. Just because the Kyūbi is inside of you doesn't make you it, you are Naruto Uzumaki the prankster king of Konoha, and my Otōto you are not the Kyūbi Naruto."

Hearing his brother Naruto's fists clenched and his eyes started to tear up as he realised it was true and he'd been so worried for nothing, and the realisation and the relief hit him hard as he started to cry. Both Sayaka and Kenta saw this and move on him taking him into an embrace holding him as he let his pain out, giving him comfort after such an ordeal.

It was a few minutes before they broke the hug Naruto looking a little better if his eyes a little puffy from the tears.

"Thanks, Nii-chan, Sayaka-nee." Naruto said with a small smile.

They both nodded, "Any time Naruto-Nii." Sayaka said with a smile, "Now we have to focus, Mizuki is coming after us, and Iruka's following trying to cut him off, we need to come up with a plan"

Kenta nodded, "Agreed, I can feel their chakra signatures approaching fast, but it's strange, Mizuki is chasing Iruka."

Naruto looked at him confused, "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Kenta shrugged, "Should be, but something's up, let's go check it out." he said as they all turned and started heading towards the chakra signatures with Kenta in the lead.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Backtracking their previous route but taking a higher path, the four of them came across a very strange sight of Naruto running through the trees with Iruka following him. Sayaka and Naruto looked to Kenta who used hand signs to tell them what was going on and what the plan was as they nodded in turn and followed the pair through the tree's but keeping far enough back to be out of sensory range.

As the pair approached a clearing, the Naruto below pushed back on the last branch and thrust himself into the Iruka mid jump with force sending them both into the tree before both fell and crashed to the ground, before the Naruto rolled off the Iruka and started to limp away as the Iruka coughed slightly in pain.

"How did you know" the Iruka started to say before being covered in smoke revealing it really being Mizuki, "that I wasn't Iruka?"

The Naruto smirked as he slumped against a tree, "Because I'm" he started to say before the same smoke covered him revealing Iruka, "Iruka."

The trio and hound in the trees above slipped down and landed silently in the bushes to the right of the clearing keeping them hidden as they watched the exchange take place.

Mizuki half growled half groaned as he got up shooting Iruka a sneer, "You're a fool. Why are you protecting that freak? He's the one who wiped out your family."

Iruka groaned as he held his shoulder that had been dislocated from the impact, "I don't care what you say because you're not getting your hands on that scroll."

Mizuki scoffed, "As if you could stop me." He said as a smirk came to his face, "Don't you get it? Naruto is just like me."

Iruka groaned as he leant forwards slightly before bringing his shoulder back against the tree as a loud pop echoed out as he popped his shoulder back in, "How's that?" Iruka groaned as he flexed his shoulder and started to stand up.

Mizuki smirked, "He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. That's how beasts are." Mizuki said holding his hands out, "He'll pour all his rage into the scroll and destroy everything. Hell now that the secrets out I bet that his brother will help him and they probably took that Uchiha slut with them for their toy, you're a fool Iruka."

Iruka looked down as he leant against the tree still winded as he sighed, "You're right..."

The three in the bushes glared at Iruka for that little comment before he continued speaking

"…That is how beasts are. But that's not who Naruto is." Iruka said as he glared at Mizuki with anger, "It might have been if he was alone in all of this but he isn't. He has friends who help him, a brother who loves and cares for him, he has people who look out for him, so regardless of what you say I know Naruto is nothing like you, and he isn't the Kyūbi."

Mizuki scowls, "I've had enough of your babbling, I was going to leave you alive back there, but now, I'm just going to kill you and then I'm going to find and kill that demon brat and his pain of a brother before I take the scroll and maybe even that Uchiha whore too."

Kenta clenched his fists hearing that as he gripped the handle of his sword his knuckles going white from the pressure as he restrained himself from busting out of the bushes and cutting Mizuki from ear to ear for that comment about Sayaka.

Mizuki smirked, "I'm sure Orochimaru-sama would welcome me with open arms with such gifts, both the scroll and a pure blooded Uchiha for his pleasure."

Kenta's eyes widened hearing that comment and he growled slightly, _'So that's it, now it's all making sense. He doesn't want the scroll for himself he wants it for Orochimaru. It would figure he's one of the few with the skills and reserves to actually understand the working of the Jutsus and techniques within the scroll and use them.'_ Kenta looked to Naruto and Sayaka and ran through a series of hand signs before they nodded and disappeared into shunshins taking up positions, the time to act was now.

Mizuki smirked as he reached behind him, "So sorry but I'm afraid you won't be around to see my plan come to fruition." he said as he detached the final Fūma shuriken from his back, "Now die!" he yelled as he threw it with force at Iruka.

It was at this point that the three who'd been watching events unfold acted as the oversized shuriken raced horizontally at Iruka, Naruto who'd taken position above the pair in the tree tops dropped down from above his Ninjatō drawn as he speared it through the middle of the shuriken nailing it to the ground with his sword.

Mizuki's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the blond but his attention was quickly drawn by another as Sayaka leaped from a tree branch from his upper left as she ran through a series of hand signs as she called out her attack

 **"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Style:** **Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)."** Sayaka called out as she brought her hand to her mouth and started rapidly shooting out a volley of fireballs on one side of Mizuki.

Mizuki quickly leapt left and right avoiding the volley of flames as they came at him, before another flurry of movement caught his eye, as well as the call of " **Gatsūga** " was heard and this time two twisting forms came at him from his right and left that shot towards him with speed.

Mizuki had to jump back several times as the twisting forms that carved deep gashes into the ground each time they made contact, after the seventh dodge Mizuki skidded to a halt while the twisting forms pulled back and slowed as the forms of Kenta and Midnight landed on all fours in formation with Sayaka and Naruto.

Kenta snarled as he stood up from his Inuzuka style stance. His clawed finger nails receding as he pointed his finger at Mizuki, "Give up, we have you out numbered and out classed, it's over Mizuki." as Midnight growled at his side.

Mizuki scowled at the statement, "Like hell it is, I will have that scroll."

"Not going to happen." Kenta declared as Midnight barked beside him and Naruto stepped up as well.

"You're finished Mizuki-Teme." Naruto yelled.

Mizuki laughed at the statement, "What are you going to do? I outrank you both and now that I don't have to hold back anymore I'll easily be able to kill you both and that flea bag."

Naruto scowled "It doesn't matter whatever you tried to do to us, we'll return a thousand fold."

Kenta growled " It's time you learned once and for all, that you don't mess with the Uzumaki Brothers and get away with it, this is for the past four years of your rubbish and bullshit" Kenta declared as both he and Naruto made a single hand sign as they called out **"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."**

The next second the entire clearing was filled with smoke from the Jutsu, clearing with a burst of wind revealing an army of red heads and blonds each glaring at the single silver-haired Chūnin in the centre of the clearing, who at this very moment looked like he was about to wet himself at the sight surrounding him as both originals of Naruto and Kenta raised their hands and yelled out, "Attack!" before each and every Bunshin raced at Mizuki fists ready as Mizuki cried out in fright.

Both Sayaka and Iruka watched wide-eyed as the Bunshin's and original pounded on the traitorous Chūnin with force to spare until he was left a pummelled mess in the middle of the clearing, twitching and out cold from the beating the two brothers put on him.

With nods of approval from all the Bunshin, they all went up in smoke as the mass Jutsu dispelled leaving only the two originals standing a few feet away from the battered Chūnin, who looked to each other and nodded to each other on a job well done.

But before anyone could make another move Shinobi wearing all black attire and wearing assorted white animal masks dropped down from the tree line all around the clearing, Kenta recognised them as the Village ANBU, the village shinobi elite.

The next moment the Hokage appeared in a shunshin, several feet from on the other side of the battered Mizuki, flanked by both Anko and Mikoto who looked at the scene both with neutral expressions.

Hiruzen looked from Mizuki to Kenta and Naruto with a neutral gaze of his own, "Would one of you please tell me what is going on here?" he asked looking between them.

Kenta's gaze settled on his sensei as he spoke, "We've apprehended a traitor who has been plotting against Konoha for multiple years, who manipulated Naruto into stealing the Fūin no Sho (Scroll of seals), the true reason behind which I suggest we leave until we are behind closed doors for the full explanation." Kenta said as his gaze hardened, "Also because you seem to have some explaining to do yourself about a certain law you passed sixteen years ago that involves my Otōto which you didn't see fit to tell me about, Saratobi-sensei." Kenta finished his voice hard, his tone hardly restraining his irritation on the matter.

Both Mikoto and Anko's eyes widened realising what he was referring to and mentally cursed to themselves realising that Kenta knew. While both Iruka and Sayaka looked on wide-eyed as well as they caught what Kenta had called the Hokage at the end and they had to keep their jaws from dropping at what it meant.

Hiruzen at that moment sighed tiredly, before nodding, "Yes, it would appear that now is the time for such a discussion, that should have been had years ago."

* * *

 **Scene break**

Arrival in the Hokage's office was meet with a rather hard silence as the doors closed and Hiruzen ran through a series of hand signs before the room was sealed off from the outside world so no one could see or listen in.

With a weary sigh Hiruzen took his seat behind the Hokage desk and held his head in disappointment of his actions as he spoke, "I take it that Mizuki was the one who revealed the secret."

Kenta only nodded as he kept a hardened glare on his Sensei. Iruka was the one who spoke, "Hai Hokage-Sama, he revealed the fact I think as a last ditch option to hurt Naruto, although I don't know what he hoped to achieve by this."

Hiruzen nodded with a frown, "I see." he said as he looked to Kenta, "To begin with I'd like to apologise for not telling both of you about this years ago, I understand if you both feel I have betrayed you in some way. But please try to understand, I only did what I thought was necessary to protect the both of you."

Kenta's fists clenched, "Protect us." Kenta spat, "How is that protecting us? Growing up with a secret that we never knew about, that was the whole reason why the other villagers treated us lower than dirt. And what's worse every time I came to you and asked about it, you always said you didn't know why. So tell me Saratobi-sensei how is blatantly lying to us and keeping the truth from us, protecting us?"

Hiruzen inwardly winced at the tone Kenta spoke with, he understood Kenta felt hurt and betrayed by him and bit his tongue so as not to speak back. Had it been anyone else that had spoken to him that way he'd have had them thrown into a Cell with a couple of weeks scheduled with Ibiki to adjust their attitude and remind them who ran this village, but Kenta was both his student and had a right to be angry with him.

Anko spoke in Hiruzen's defence, "Kenta just take a step back. I'm sure Hokage-Sama had a reason for doing what he did otherwise he wouldn't have done it. You have a right to be angry but…" she started to say only to be cut off by Kenta.

"You're damn right I have a right to be angry. This whole time there was a reason for why Naruto and I were treated like crap by the majority of this village, and he kept it from us. If anyone can even fathom my anger right now it would be you Anko." Kenta said as he fixed her with a glare that made her stiffen at both it and his words.

She knew he was right after she had left the village with Orochimaru all those years ago, she hadn't known about him being a traitor and how she was unknowingly betraying the village by just going with him. And then to make it worse at the very end of it all he took all her memories of those years she'd been with him on the road. She could understand all to well, she couldn't even remember being out of the village and yet she was viewed by the majority of shinobi as a traitor for that fact and being his student. She could only imagine what she would be feeling if Orochimaru had taken more than just the memories of those years and instead have taken all of her memories involving him and then not being told upon return to the village and being treated like she had been. She would have been just as pissed off if not more so.

Hiruzen frowned, "Kenta I understand your anger, but at the time it was the only option that was viable, and that would give you both the best lives possible as well as keeping you both together."

Kenta frowned at that statement, "Is that supposed to be some sort of statement aimed at me, do you think I'd abandon Naruto, I'd never do that."

Mikoto stepped forward, "We know that Kenta and we know that you think that now, but at the time there were more angles in play. And still are, you were only one of them if Naruto's secret had been outed more so than it already was then he would have been in more danger than he already was, you both would have been. Hokage-Sama was only trying to contain the damage and protect you both."

Kenta's glare softened, "What do you mean?" he asked fearing what Mikoto was hinting at.

Hiruzen sighed, "In the wake of the Kyūbi attack the village was in chaos and people needed assurances that the Kyūbi wouldn't attack again. It was through my naivety that I believed the council should be told the truth; the Yondaime believes this as well and wanted Naruto to be treated as a hero for holding the Kyūbi and protecting the village from its wrath. But things didn't go as we had hoped, events unfurled that left me with no choice but to declare Naruto's status as an S-rank secret and pass a law forbidding anyone from mentioning it, but word spread before I could contain the information. It was all I could do to assure that both you and Naruto had as normal a childhood as possible, and not let Naruto grow up with the fear of what he contained until you both were old enough, and educated enough, to understand and not be swayed by your fears."

Kenta clenched his fists, "I would never have abandoned Naruto. I would never abandon my Otōto, not for any reason!" he said firmly as his fists shook from his grip.

Hiruzen nodded his head, "I know you wouldn't now Kenta and while it's still a nobel thing for you to say I fear that you only say that now because you yourself know the intricate workings of Fūinjutsu and sealing. Ask yourself would your younger self at age five or six see it the way you do now, if you were raised being told the boy you've grown up with has a the Kyūbi no Yoko sealed inside of him, fear will make us do a great many things we never think we'd do."

Kenta's head hung at that statement and he looked down, he knew the answer to that question, part of him wanted to say it, to scream it to the heavens that he'd never leave his only family no matter what anyone said about him. But there was the smallest whisper in him that said that he would have done what all the others had done, turning on his own brother and seeing him like they all had and he hated himself for that thought alone.

Naruto saw his brother's reaction and moved to his side putting his hand on his older brother's shoulder not saying a word as both brothers eyes met for a second, no words were said but the look in Naruto's eyes said it all, "It was ok" before Kenta turned away in shame of his own thoughts.

Pushing his shame to the side after several silent moments Kenta looked back to Hiruzen the anger lessened slightly as he spoke, "Why him? Why was it Naruto that the Yondaime sealed the Kyūbi inside? Why not me? We were only born five minutes apart, so why Naruto"

Hiruzen shook his head, "To that I can't honestly say, I wasn't there when the sealing took place and I don't know why he chose Naruto and not you Kenta. Perhaps it was the five minutes between you that was the difference but I can't honestly say."

Kenta looked down in thought, ' _There has to be more to it than that. Things just aren't adding up here, why were Naruto and I even brought to the place of the sealing in the first place? Why was I brought if I wasn't even going to be used? Unless we were both already there… But why would two new-born-babies be anywhere but a hospital? It just doesn't make any sense.'_

In Kenta's silence Sayaka curiosity got the better of her as she spoke, "Hokage-Sama, you said that events unfurled that left you with no choice but to declare Naruto's status as an S-rank secret. What events are you referring to? Surely they weren't so serious that you couldn't have revoked your laws about Naruto's status earlier and told them the secret, or was it left in place to simply keep them from finding out."

Hiruzen sighed, "That was part of it, but there were far many more reasons for the law remaining in place that simply that, it was to protect the fact that Naruto held the kyūbi from spreading. Such a secret is a valuable one and had the word spread beyond the village I feared that other shinobi villages might attempt to kidnap Naruto in order to take the power of the Kyūbi for their own village." Hiruzen frowned leaning back in his chair, "But the main reason was to keep Naruto safe within the village walls after the civilian side of the council took a less than high approval of his status as container of the Kyūbi."

It was then that Kenta snapped out of his thoughts, "What do you mean by that?"

Hiruzen shook his head, "You have to understand, many people had just lost their loved ones, so many were dead and the Kyūbi was still a raw nerve, the council were asking what happened to the Kyūbi and in my hope that they would listen to the Yondaime's last wish I told them that the Kyūbi was sealed inside of Naruto, the Yondaime wanted him to be seen as a hero to this village for holding back the Kyūbi. But instead they let fear control them, in their eye's Naruto was the Kyūbi in a weakened state, they were angry, hurt and in morning, they did what most would do."

Mikoto frowned from beside the Hokage, "They called for Naruto's immediate execution, believing that his death would mean the death of the Kyūbi who'd killed so many of their loved ones."

Sayaka gasped hearing that, Naruto felt his heart drop hearing that the civilian side of the council had tried to have him killed less than a day after he was born. Kenta on the other hand clenched his fists as he growled out, "People are fucking idiots." Kenta said with a scowled look.

"Kenta language." Sayaka berated him

Kenta just rolled his eyes, "What would you call them then? I know Fūinjutsu isn't that wide a practice as it was in the past but come on, I could understand some of the civilians being scared but the shinobi as well. They use sealing scrolls and explosive tags all the time, and they can't tell the difference between a kunai and the scroll they seal it in? I'll say it again people are fucking idiots."

That got a varied response through the room, both Naruto and Anko outright laughed at the comment, while both Sayaka and Mikoto giggled at Kenta's blatant comment, he was crude but right.

Hiruzen chuckled slightly, "Indeed people often can't look past their views and see that Naruto is Naruto and not the Kyūbi that he contains"

Naruto grinned, "Then I'll just have to make them see, that I'm me and not the Kyūbi in me, I'll make them all see and then I'll become Hokage and the whole world Knows I'm Naruto Uzumaki and not the Kyūbi, Believe it."

They all smiled hearing that from Naruto. Kenta smirked at his attitude mentally relieved that all this handed damped his spirits.

Hiruzen chuckled, "Indeed and to get you on that path, I think you'll be needing this." Hiruzen said as he reached into his drawer and pulled out a Konoha Hitai-ate and tossed it to Naruto who caught it and looked at it confused.

"But Jiji, I didn't pass the exam." Naruto stated as Hiruzen chuckled

Mikoto smiled, "Actually Naruto-Kun you did." she giggled seeing the shocked look on the blond's face.

Anko smirked, "After you three left the academy I went inside and did some snooping around and found a single short range chakra disruption seal under left side if the desk in the final exam room. Mizuki most likely used it when you were doing your Jutsu and messed up your chakra control so your Jutsu would fail."

Hiruzen nodded, "And when both Anko and Mikoto presented me with this evidence I sent an ANBU over the academy to retrieve your exam paper and other test results while I searched for you with my seeing glass, and we discovered you on top of the Hokage monument when Mizuki approached you. It was why you were able to sneak into here undiscovered, I planned to confront you and inform you of this but before I could you use that rather…. Interesting Jutsu on me and it was another fifteen minutes before I came around." Hiruzen finished getting a rather heated glare from the three Kunoichi in the room, as Naruto and Kenta sweat dropped while Iruka just looked confused, "Anyway, after checking over your exam, which Mizuki incorrectly marked. You got full marks in it, which puts you well above the graduating mark. Congratulations Naruto-Kun you're officially a Genin."

Naruto cheered as both Sayaka and Kenta patted him on the back in congratulations for passing.

Hiruzen smiled, "Now as a graduation gift for the three of you, I am rewarding each of you with B-Rank mission pay for apprehending the Nuke-nin Mizuki and retrieving the Fūin no Sho (scroll of seals), congratulations on your first successful mission." Hiruzen said as he took out a scroll and started to write down the mission report and assigning the pay.

Anko smirked, "Damn, you three got lucky. Not many Genin can pull a B-Rank their first day on the job, nice one."

Mikoto nodded in agreement, "Indeed, however it is troubling me, what did Mizuki intend for the scroll, surely he knew that the majority of the Jutsu in it would be of little use to him, perhaps he intended to sell it to another village."

Kenta sighed, "No that's not it?" he said as he rubbed his temple getting Mikoto, Anko and Hiruzen's attention, "The Baka let it slip in the forest what he intended to do with the scroll. His plan wasn't to learn its techniques himself or take it to a rival village; rather he planned to take it to a single intended individual who does have the means to use it. He intended to take it to Orochimaru."

At that Mikoto, Anko and Hiruzen looked at Kenta their eyes wide, Anko walked in front of him putting her hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, "You're sure he said that? He said that bastards name?"

Kenta nodded, "I wouldn't have said it if he hadn't, I believe his exact phrasing was "I'm sure Orochimaru-sama would welcome me with open arms with such gifts, both the scroll and a pure blooded Uchiha for his pleasure"".

Mikoto's eyes narrowed, "He intended to take Sayaka as well." she said her tone growing dangerous.

Kenta nodded, "He said some other choice words as well but I won't anger you further by repeating them."

Anko and Mikoto looked back to Hiruzen for a response, as the elderly Hokage sighed.

"I see, then this mission just jumped to A-Rank pay. Anko I assume you're wanting first crack at the traitor for whatever information he has?" Hiruzen asked getting a nod from the snake charmer, "And Mikoto I assume you want to get some retribution for his intent towards Sayaka here?"

Mikoto nodded, "Hai Hokage-Sama, but I believe just being present while Anko-chan interrogates him will be more than adequate. I'm sure she's more than skilled enough to deal out adequate punishment while probing for information."

Anko smirked, "Oh there will be plenty of probing alright, preferably with a red hot poker rammed right up his…." Anko started to say only for Mikoto to put her hand over her mouth.

"Please Anko-chan, there will be no talk of sodomising traitors with anything in the presence of minors." Mikoto sweat dropped as she took her hand away.

Anko chuckled, "He-he, I guess I got a little bit too excited there, but rest assured he will be singing like a cannery by the time I'm done with him. Not that it'll keep me from continuing though." she smirked, while everyone in the room sweatdropped at her sadistic attitude.

Hiruzen cleared his throat; "Right then." he said as he rolled up the mission scroll, "I believe that should do it, A-Rank mission pay for retrieving the Fūin no Sho and stopping the traitor."

Kenta blinked as he took out his own scroll and unfurled it, "You might actually want the scroll back then." he said as he came to storage seal, opening it in a puff of smoke revealing the Fūin no Sho, "It would have been a bit irresponsible to use the actual Fūin no Sho as bait, so we used a Henged scroll in its place to fool Mizuki, the real Fūin no Sho was never in any real danger."

Hiruzen chuckled as he took the scroll from Kenta and nodded, "A wise decision indeed, I have taught you well my young student."

Kenta smirked, "Indeed you have Sarutobi-sensei, so I think we'll all just forget about how Otōto was able to knock you out without even touching you with a simple specialised Henge, I think that would be best."

Hiruzen splutter in embarrassment before hanging his head as he handed over the mission scroll, "Yes, I believe that would be for the best, and that we not speak about it after this day."

The three Genin just chuckled as they walked out, with Midnight following, to celebrate now that Naruto was officially a Genin as well.

Anko smirked, "Ha, looks like that Gaki's plan is finally coming together, he and his brother are shinobi now. About damn time."

Mikoto smiled, "Indeed, they've worked hard to it all three of them have earned it."

Iruka nodded in agreement, "Yes but it's still a long road ahead of them, let's just hope they're strong enough for it."

Hiruzen sighed, "I don't think we have to worry about that Iruka. Kenta will always look out for Naruto and Sayaka, he'll never let either of them get hurt as long as he can help it. For now all we can do is wait and watch. Who knows what the future holds for those three, but one thing is for certain, it will be interesting."

The others nodded in agreement as they looked out the window and watched as the three Genin left the Hokage tower side by side.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN/: Sorry for the long pause between chapters, been in a bit of a tizzy the past while, my mind just can't seem to focus on any singular thing for too long, I blame my A.S for that, I've just had so many ideas rolling around my head I can barely get one down on paper before another one pops up, but I'll try to get more chapters out soon, chapter 10's plan is with my Co writer Ryu now to get the final touches before it comes back to me for the actual chapter writing which shouldn't take more than a couple of days now that the planning is complete for it, so please drop a review and let me know what you think of this new chapter, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

The door to Kenta's apartment opened wide as Kenta and Midnight arrived back from their morning run with time to spare. It was the day after the exams and the Mizuki incident, both Uzumaki brothers had gone home to bed knowing the next day would be the  
official start of their careers as shinobi.

As they walked in they found Naruto already up, dressed and waiting for them.

"Morning Nii-chan, Midnight." Naruto greeted them as they came in tossing Kenta a litter bottle of water as Midnight trotted over to his already filled bowl.

"Morning Otōto." Kenta greeted him before he tilted the bottle back taking a drink before speaking again, "What's up with you waiting, normally you'd always be heading to the academy ahead of me?" he asked before he tilted the bottle up again continuing  
his drink.

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, but I figured this being our first day as official Genin, we could walk to the academy for our team placements together." he explained as Kenta finished downing the bottle's contents.

Kenta smirked as he finished, "Sure why not, it would be fitting for our first day, just let me grab a shower and pull on my gear." he said before heading to the bathroom to get ready.

Fifteen minutes later the two brothers and Ninken were out on the street taking the casual root to the academy, both wearing their Konoha Hitai-ates with pride on their foreheads as they walked through the streets.

"Hey, Nii-chan, who do you think we'll be placed with in our teams? I'm hoping Jiji puts you, me, and Sayaka-nee together, we've been training together for so long we already make a great team." Naruto said with a hopeful look in his eye.

Kenta smirked but shook his head, "As much as that would be great to be on the same team with you Otōto, I don't think that will happen. They don't tend to put siblings or even two of the same clan members on the same team." Kenta explained, "Last I checked  
the teams were based normally on individual purposes, tracking, capture and assault. A team to track the enemy, a team to capture them, and an induvial combat assault team that's an all-around offensive. Then there are the traditional teams amongst  
the clans like the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans. The three heads of those clans used to make up a team with a wicked set of combo Jutsus, so my money on one team will be Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji being in a team, they're also a set capture squad  
with the added option of the Nara's Jutsu for interrogation purposes, so we've got the assault and tracking teams to think about after that. Tracking wise the Inuzuka and Hyūga clans both hold that in their skill sets and I also fall into that with  
Midnight. So I could be put into a tracking squad with Kiba and Hinata seeing as I'm not technically in the Inuzuka clan but I like to think I'm more of an assault specialist, hard to place who could be placed in that category though. Sayaka-chan  
has power as well but she's also an Iryō-nin so it's a tough call on her and you're the same as me a general assault specialist so in theory we'd be on the same team but it's hard to tell. Plus there's no way I'm asking Sensei to fix the teams so  
we're together. I've already asked for too much in the past, we'll just let the teams fall as they will and trust in the Hokage's placements."

Naruto blinked as he listened to his brother's reasoning's, "Wow, you really put a lot of thought into it. Hm, who knew there was a system to things like that, I'd have though it was all based on grades and stuff."

Kenta smirked, "Yeah no doubt that's what most think, but there's a system for everything you just have to stop and think about it for a bit." he said as they rounded a street corner on their route.

However, both brothers and Ninken stopped suddenly very aware of the looks they were receiving from the civilians on the street ahead of them.

Naruto felt himself tense seeing the cold angry glares being shot their way as well as the multiple whispers as people noticed his Hitai-ate as he could make out some asking "How could they allow him to become a shinobi", and the like.

Kenta on the other hand narrowed his eyes at the civilians and shot back his own glare and reinforced it with his Sakki (Killing intent), grateful that Anko had taught him how to utilize it years before, while Midnight growled from his left baring his  
teeth adding to the effect which was instantaneous, causing the civilians to disperse in fear feeling the red head and Ninken's displeasure, before the trio continued on their way undisturbed.

As they walked Naruto caught a few straggling glares from some brave civilians but ignored them as they continued, "It's strange, isn't it?" Naruto voiced, "All this time not knowing the reason behind the looks and now there's no more mystery to it."

Kenta rolled his eyes scowl still on his face, "Yeah some big revelation, the village is full of simple minded idiots, that aren't worth the effort it takes to notice their glares. I swear shinobi that don't know the difference between a scroll and a  
kunai, and civilians that can't tell the difference between a cup and water aren't worth the air they breathe." Kenta spat out in disgust and anger as Midnight growled in agreement.

Naruto flinches at his brother's tone "Aren't you acting a little bit harsh towards them I mean, I can understand the shinobi, but the civilians don't know any better."

Kenta sighed, "And just how am I supposed to act Otōto? Yes I know the civilians don't know any better, but it's that fact that angers me the most. It was the Yondaime who did it and the Sandaime even confirmed it, but yet they still didn't trust the  
word of two of the village's leaders on the matter and still let their fear, bigotry, grief and stupidity blind them to the truth. Even sixteen years later. It's that and how it just shows the utter lack of faith they have in the title of Hokage that  
they'd do such things. And I can't decide what angers me the most." Kenta said in an angry tone, which Midnight snorted with a nod of his head.

Naruto frowned looking down, he could understand where his brother was coming from, while Kenta looked to the Sandaime and Sannin as his idols, Naruto looked to the Yondaime as his, and he could understand how the civilians and even the shinobi under  
the Hokage not believing two of them showed the utter lack of respect and faith in the Hokage title, it was then that Naruto felt the small pang of anger as well thinking about someone unintentionally insulting his hero as his fists clenched for a  
second as he uttered, "Stupid idiots."

Kenta blinked hearing Naruto and smirked, "Damn straight." he agreed, as Midnight gave a small bark of amusement before they continued on, neither brother nor Ninken saying or barking another word as they walked on towards the academy and their shinobi  
careers.

* * *

 **Scene break**

As the three arrived at the academy they were greeted by Sayaka who had arrived before them.

"Kenta-kun, Naruto-Nii, you two excited as I am?" Sayaka greeted with a smile.

"You bet Sayaka-nee. Can't wait to see what team I'm in." Naruto smiled

Kenta smirked, "You know it." as Midnight gave a bark of agreement.

"Looks like everyone's here," came Kiba's voice as he entered the room behind Kenta and Naruto with Akamaru by his side, and his grin widened seeing Naruto with his Hitai-ate, "So you did manage to pull it off, congrats Naruto." Kiba said as he and Naruto  
high-fived, "I knew that Mizuki-Teme had to have screwed you over somehow, damn I want to punch that silver haired Teme's face in."

Kenta smirked, "Too late, Otōto here and I beat you to it."

Kiba raised an eyebrow at that, "What ya mean? You tracked the bastard down and made him confess?"

Kenta shook his head, "None, the idiot turned out to be a traitor and came up with this lame ass excuse of a re-test for Naruto after sabotaging both his written and Jutsu exams. Which involves details I won't go into, but the end result was of the traitorous  
variety and Otōto and I had the privilege of giving him a Kage Bunshin beat down that left him bloody before he was turned over to the I&T division to pass on whatever intel he has after he ran his mouth about some things that had Hokage-Sama  
concerned. I think Anko-chan was having fun with him last night."

Sayaka giggled, "I don't think she'd have much left to work with after you two got through with him, she'll have to wait till he's healed before she can do some damage herself."

Kenta shrugged, "Can't say he didn't deserve it after the stunt he pulled and don't misjudge Anko-chan, she can still inflict plenty of pain even if you're already in a world of it. There are plenty of places still painful enough to have Senbon needles  
stuck in you."

Kiba winced, "Damn, I wish I'd have gotten a few good kicks in. He was always a pompous ass, but I didn't think he was a traitor, guess you never can tell."

Kenta shook his head, "I never got a good vibe from him and from day one I always suspected something. I guess it just goes to show, never trust a guy who uses that much hair conditioner." he said with a smirk as the others laughed at the joke.

size="1" noshade=""

 **Scene break**

After everyone had settled down and taken their seats the door opened and Iruka came in with a clipboard under his arm and a proud smile on his face as he looked up at all of his now former students.

"First of, let me say congratulations to all of you for passing your Genin graduation exams. I'm proud to have taught each of you in your years at the academy and today marks your first day as Genin of Konoha. I hope each of you wear your Hitai-ates  
with pride, you've all earned them. Now as you all know you're all going to be placed into three man cells with a Jōnin-sensei who will be taking over your training from here on out." Iruka said as he took the clipboard out from under his arm,  
"Listen for your squad number and teammates, team one…" Iruka started reciting as he ran through the team lists before finally reaching the last groups, "Team Seven Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

That got varying results, when Naruto heard his placement his head immediately hit the desk in front of him with a thud as Kiba patted his back to console him on his placement with his worst possible pairing, while Sakura cheered "Love conquers all!"  
getting placed with Sasuke who was sitting at the front not really reacting at all.

Meanwhile up a few rows with Kenta and Sayaka both blinked hearing the pairing with different expressions, Kenta took his head in his hand shaking his head, _'I just had to call it didn't I, that's an all-around assault team if I ever saw one. Naruto's large chakra reserves and high wind affinity along with his handful of Jutsu, add in Sasuke's potential Sharingan and his fire affinity and you've got a combination for a devastating combo there. Sakura has the book smarts and the small chakra reserves to be trained up to be a decent medic or Genjutsu mistress; it's a classic all-rounder assault team. While on paper it works, I don't know what Sarutobi-sensei was thinking. Naruto will work with them sure, but him and Sasuke will be at each other's throats in five minutes and Sakura is a Sasuke fan girl, this team is going to have some friction. Hatake will have his work cut out for him'_ he  
thought before he leaned over to Sayaka, "Let's hope our brothers don't kill each other before the end of their first mission."

Sayaka nodded while rubbing her forehead as she glanced down between Naruto and Sasuke, _'Of all the people to pair together it's had to be Sasuke-Nii and Naruto-Nii.'_

"Team Eight, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyūga Hinata and Aburame Shino, your sensei will be Yūhi Kurenai." Iruka continued to list off.

Kenta nodded hearing the team, _'Interesting, there's the tracking team with the Hyūga and Inuzuka combo. Plus the Aburame's insects make for good reconnaissance and patrols for the additional tracking potential. I can see what Sensei was thinking there and Yūhi if I remember right she's good friends with Anko-chan and the Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, an interesting sensei.'_ he  
thought as he looked to see their individual reactions, Shino was as always neutral about any outcome not showing any real emotion, Kiba looked to be smiling happy enough with his placement, while Hinata had a sad smile which Kenta would have  
to place the reason for not being on the same team as Naruto, before he looked back to the front as Iruka continued on down the list.

"Team Nine is still in circulation so, Team Ten Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji, your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." Iruka announced.

Which got an immediate reaction as Ino seemed to groan in displeasure finding out who here team mates are, Shikamaru didn't look troubled by it at all as he lay with his head down, Chōji looked like he expected it as he just munched on his potato  
chips.

Kenta smirked from his seat, _'and there's the next generation of the Ino-Shika-Ch_ ō _formation. Sensei you're anything if not predictable and you even have your son teaching them, well that is promising.'_

Iruka took a pause for a moment as he read the last line on the list before clearing his throat, "Team Eleven Uzumaki Kenta and Uchiha Sayaka, your sensei will be Mitarashi Anko."

Kenta and Sayaka paused hearing their names before they looked at each other with grins on their faces hearing that they'll both be on the same team was the best result they could have hoped for, and with Anko, as their Sensei they'd have no problems.

There was some muttering around the room at the last announcement and Sakara put her hand up in confusion, "Iruka-sensei, I thought you said that we were being put into three man teams with a Jōnin-sensei. Why are Kenta and Sayaka on their own with  
a sensei, shouldn't there be another member of their team?" she asked as others nodded in agreement.

Iruka sighed, "Yes normally that is the case Sakara, but given the numbers in this graduating class having a full eleventh squad isn't possible. Now normally in this case if it was just one student that student would be held back and wait for an opening  
in another team or graduate with the next class. But seeing as there were two students left over Hokage-Sama decided to make an exception to the rules and make Kenta and Sayaka a team all to themselves, judging that they'd be capable enough to  
pick up the slack for their third member until one becomes available. Given the fact that both Kenta and Sayaka got the highest marks in the exam making them both the rookies of the year, with Naruto and Hinata taking second place and You and  
Sasuke taking third in the class rankings." Iruka explained getting a nod of understanding from Sakura understanding how things were working now.

But the announcement hadn't sat well with one Uchiha in particular as Sasuke stood up enraged, "How is that possible, how could both Uzumaki have higher scores in the exam than me, and how could he be the rookie of the year that title should be mine."

Sayaka groaned in her seat out of embarrassment from her brother's stupidity as Kenta rolled his eyes listening to Sasuke gripe.

"Skill and practice, that's how." Kenta answered loudly from his back seat as Sasuke turned and glared up at him, which Kenta ignored.

Iruka rubbed his brow trying to soothe a headache he was getting due to the male Uchiha, "Because Sasuke not only did Kenta get full one hundred for one hundred marks on the written exam, you barely got over ninety, Kenta got full marks on the kunai  
and shuriken something that hasn't been achieved in close to seven years, you pulled off just under that, in Taijutsu you fought the whole time with Mizuki and never touched him, while Kenta beat him in less than ten second flat, and in Ninjutsu  
Kenta outperformed you again, using each Jutsu flawlessly demonstrating near perfect chakra control for each and even performing some without the use of hand signs and demonstrated an equal level of control in is bonus Jutsu. Sayaka also outscored  
you on each and every aspect as well in the written exam she also pulled full marks, scored hire on you in the target exam, actually landed hits in her Chūnin spar and demonstrated Jōnin level chakra control or higher when she performed a B-rank  
Iryō Ninjutsu as her bonus Jutsu, even Naruto after his points were re-scored was found to be higher than you in everything, both of them are deserving of their spots as rookies of the year, now sit down Genin Uchiha."

Sasuke seethed as he heard how he had been outdone not only by both Uzumaki but also his little sister, _'How is this possible, how can she be better than me, I'm older, stronger and the rightful heir to the clan, how can she possibly be better than me. I'll make them pay for this, this isn't over.'_ Sasuke  
seethed as he reluctantly sat down and crossed his arms his fists balled.

Iruka nodded to himself as Sasuke sat down before clearing his throat, "Okay then, now normally you'd all be given an hour to get to know your teammates better before you'd meet your sensei, but Hokage-Sama is pushing things forward wanting to get  
things moving more speedily to get you all out there and into your shinobi careers faster, something I know some of you are grateful for, so as your sensei's come in you will go with them and they will take it from there, good luck"

As Iruka finished the classroom door opened and different Jōnin came in and one by one the teams left with their sensei's. Kenta watched as two more distinguished Jōnin walked in.

One was a tall man, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up half way, flak jacket, regular black sandals and Hitai-ate. He also wore a  
sash that had the kanji for "Fire" marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.

Kenta instantly recognised him as Asuma Sarutobi, the Hokage's son, they'd met a couple of times in the past when he'd come to see his father in his office, although Kenta knew that the two of them didn't get on so well that their relationship had  
been strained ever since Asuma had left the village against Hiruzen's wishes and joined the Shugonin Jūnishi, to guard the Fire Daimyō instead of staying in the village. But their relationship had slowly been improving over the years but it still  
had a long way to go.

Next to Asuma was another that Kenta recognised, a friend of Anko's, she was a fair-skinned woman of slender build with long black untamed hair reaching her upper back. She possessed unique eyes that were red in colour, with an additional ring in  
them and wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her attire consists of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible with a very broad material that resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to those  
of rose thorns that covered the rest of her body down to her hands and upper thighs with the Konoha Hitai-ate and regular shinobi sandals.

Kenta recognised her as Kurenai Yūhi, the Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, and one of Anko's close and personal friends, from what he remembered she'd only just been promoted to Jōnin rank some months prior to that, and Kenta could tell she was slightly  
nervous but that she was hiding it very well.

"Team ten with me." Asuma spoke out as he looked up into the students.

"Team eight follow me." Kurenai followed up as she did the same.

Kenta watched as the two teams and their senseis left the room, Kiba giving a wave to Kenta, Sayaka and Naruto as he walked out with Akamaru by his side. Leaving just teams seven and eleven in the room with Iruka waiting on their sensei's.

It was another couple of minutes before they all heard the sounds of someone complaining coming down the hall and another familiar voice telling the previous one to shut up.

"Is this really necessary, I can walk by myself you know." complained the first voice.

"Oh shut it Kakashi, you know as well as I do if I wasn't here you'd be off somewhere reading that smut you call a book, and wouldn't show up for the next three hours, while your team did nothing, now stow it and get in there." Anko's voice sounded  
before the door to the classroom crashed onto the floor with a tied up man on top of it who looked slightly irritated at the boot mark on his ass, before Anko poked her head in the door rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "Hehe, that was  
an accident I swear." she said as everyone there bar Sasuke and Sakara sweat dropped at the scene.

With a displeased groan, the bound man stood up as the ropes fell off him as he dusted himself off, "Yes I'm sure it was Anko." he said sarcastically as he fixed himself up as Kenta finally got a good look at him.

He had spiky silver hair spiked to the left side, the right eye that he could see was dark grey but the left eye was covered over by the man's Hitai-ate, and the rest of his face from his nose down was covered by a blue face mask. The rest of his  
outfit consisted of the standard Jōnin attire that of a green flak jacket, a dark blue long-sleeve shirt with fingerless dark blue gloved with metal backs, dark blue pants and blue shinobi sandals.

Kenta raised an eyebrow at the man, _'He was able to get out of those ropes the whole time, he let her bring him here if he had wanted to escape he could have easily have done it. Hmm, late twenties maybe, around five feet ten or eleven inches tall, ten maybe eleven stone in weight. One eye covered possibly missing, blind spot, but yet still a shinobi so he's still capable… Hatake… where have I…, of course, Hatake Kakashi, Sharingan no Kakashi, son of the Konoha no Shiroi Kiba, Sakumo Hatake… and student of the Yondaime, well I don't think Otōto could have gotten a better sensei if he tried, although I wonder why Anko said he wouldn't be here for the next three hours if she hadn't brought him?'_

Anko looked up to Sayaka and Kenta with a smirk, "Hey you two, did you hear who you're sensei is yes, I hear she's damn good and sexy to boot."

Sayaka sweat dropped at the comment while Kenta chuckled as they both got up and started down to her while Kakashi looked over his team with his one eye before sighing, "Okay, my first impressions on you three… you all suck." he said blatantly making  
the three face flaunt at the bluntness.

Sayaka and Kenta sweat dropped hearing the comment as Kenta looked to Anko, "So why'd you have to drag him here, he not want to come or something?" he asked keeping Kakashi in his line of sight.

Anko smirked, "That's partly it, the other part is that it was a direct order from the old man, Kakashi here makes it a habit to not turn up to anything short of an A-rank mission on time, if it was left up to him he'd have left those three waiting  
here for the next three hours doing nothing and wasting time. After the teams were announced to the Jōnin I was told to make sure Kakashi got here on time for once and did something."

Kakashi sweat dropped at the comment, "Hey now come on, I'm not that bad am I?"

Anko rolled her eyes at the Cyclopes, "No you're worse, now come on everyone to the roof, we're doing our introductions together so that they actually get done." she said as she turned and headed for the door as Sayaka and Kenta followed her with  
Midnight by Kenta's side.

Kakashi sighed but nodded as he followed suit with team seven following behind him.

* * *

 **Scene break**

With everyone now up on the roof, Kakashi and Anko leant against the ledge while the Genin sat down on one of the seating areas in front of them Naruto on the far side with Sasuke and Sakura between him and Sayaka with midnight between her and Kenta.

"Ok, even though I already know my team, let's get through these introductions as quickly as possible" Anko said as she leant back, "Who wants to go first?"

Sakura looked confused for a moment, "Um what do you mean by introductions, like our hobbies and stuff?" she asked for clarification.

Anko shrugged, "Sure whatever, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future and that kind of stuff, here I'll go first then" Anko said as she cleared her throat with a smirk making both Sayaka and Kenta grin, "My name's Anko Mitarashi, my  
likes include torturing and interrogating traitors and scum bags, eating Dango and drinking sake, preferably all at the same time." she grinned making Sakara and Sasuke pale while Naruto shivered, Sayaka and Kenta looked normal and Kakashi looked  
unfazed, "My dislikes include, but are not limited to, stupid people, fangirls and a certain traitorous snake. My hobbies include researching poisons and training with a pair of kick-ass little Genin who with any luck will be Chūnin before too  
long." she grinned looking to Sayaka and Kenta, "My dream is to find and kill a certain traitorous snake and see both my students make it to Chūnin and then to Jōnin rank." she smirked before elbowing Kakashi, "You're next Cyclops."

Kakashi sighed, "Fine, my name's Kakashi Hatake, my likes are… you're too young to know that, my dislikes are… you don't need to know that, and my dreams for the future... Never nearly thought about it." he rambled off looking out into space while  
the others sweat dropped.

Kenta shook his head before looking to Anko, "May I do it?" he asked openly.

Anko smirked, "Sure go ahead." she grinned as Kenta took out a small black book from his pouch before clearing his throat, as the others looked to him and Kakashi raised an eyebrow recognising the book as the Konoha Bingo book and wondered where a  
newly minted Genin had gotten his hands on one.

"Kakashi Hatake, twenty-six years old, male, known titles are "Kopi Ninja no Kakashi" and "Sharingan no Kakashi". Former ANBU captain, lost his left eye in the third shinobi war and was replaced by a Sharingan eye, hence his title. Thought to have  
copied over a thousand Jutsu, although he had a strong Raiton (lightning) affinity and is the creator of the Chidori, an A rank Raiton assassination technique, and holder of the Hound contract. Former student of the Yondaime Hokage and only son  
of Sakumo Hatake, Konoha no Shiroi Kiba." Kenta rounded off from the book, "Threat A-rank, approach with extreme caution, recommendation flee on sight, if under A-rank or alone."

As Kenta listed off Kakashi's shinobi details they got varying results from each of the Genin, Sakara and Naruto looked at Kakashi with awe and respect, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the mention of the Sharingan, Sayaka just smiled as Kenta listed the  
details off having already been informed about Kakashi by her mother before as the only other Sharingan in the village.

Kakashi blinked and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Kenta finished, "Well there you go, I don't even need to introduce myself again. Although I have to wonder," Kakashi said getting serious, "where did a newly minted Genin pick up one of  
Konoha's bingo books, they're usually only given out to Chūnin?" he asked raising an eyebrow as Kenta put the book away.

Kenta smirked, "A shinobi must always be prepared, that included knowing your allies as well as knowing your enemies. I got the book a few months ago, it was an older edition, but its Intel is still good."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, "Fair enough, now how about you five introduce yourselves." he said before he turned his gaze to Sakura, "Let's start with you pinkie."

Sakara's eye twitched at the nickname but brushed it off and started her introduction, "My name's Sakura Haruno, my likes are…" *Looks at Sasuke and giggles*, "My hobbies are…." *looks at Sasuke and giggles*, "My dislikes are Ino-Baka and my dreams  
are to…" *looks at Sasuke and squeals to herself*

Anko pinches the bridge of her nose more and more at every word with a pissed off look on her face, Kakashi sweat dropped hearing her, while Sasuke remained oblivious to what it all meant and Naruto, Kenta and Midnight all sighed in some form shaking  
their heads in disappointment while Sayaka rolled her eyes at the fangirl.

"Okay then, your next Mr Doom-and-gloom." Kakashi said pointing to Sasuke

Sasuke growled at the nickname before speaking, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I have few likes and I dislike many things. My hobby is training and my dream isn't a dream it's more of an ambition, I will kill a certain someone and then restore the Uchiha  
clan to its former glory before going even higher."

That little introduction got much the same responses from the others as Sakura's did, while Sakura was swooning over Sasuke the whole time he was talking.

"Okay, you're next blondie." Kakashi said as he gestured to Naruto.

Naruto smirked, "Name's Naruto Uzumaki, my likes are ramen, Nii-chan, Sayaka-nee, training and Fūinjutsu. My dislikes are fangirls, dumb people who don't know the difference between a cup and its contents, and anyone who badmouths my family and my  
dream. My hobbies are pranking, Fūinjutsu, training and enjoying ramen, and my dream is to someday be Hokage."

Kakashi nodded in approval glad to see he had at least one student who wasn't delusional, Anko smirked at Naruto's ambition, while both Kenta and Sayaka smiled in approval, Sasuke scoffed at the whole thing while Sakara didn't seem to care.

"Ok, you're up mini-me." Anko smirked to Sayaka.

Sayaka smirked back and rolled her eyes at the pun before speaking, "My name's Sayaka Uchiha, my likes are Anko-sensei, Kenta-Kun, Naruto-Nii and Midnight. My dislikes are those who are too arrogant to see their ambitions will never happen *glares  
at Sasuke*, and stupid fangirls. My hobbies are training with Kenta-Kun and Naruto-Nii, practicing my Iryō Ninjutsu and learning new things. My dream is to find someone and ask him to tell me the truth about what happened a certain night a long  
time ago before I can move on with my life and have a family."

Anko, Kenta and Naruto nodded in understanding to what she mean, while Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the last statement but nodded all the same, Sasuke completely ignored her while Sakara blinked not understanding the first part of her dream, but didn't  
speak up about it.

"Alright then, your turn Red." Anko smirked pointing to Kenta.

Kenta smirked, "Name's Kenta Uzumaki, my likes are my family, friends, Sayaka-chan and Midnight here, and Pocky of course." he said as he fished one of the chocolate sticks out of his flak jacket taking a bite, "My dislikes are arrogant people and  
those who don't believe what their leaders say and doubt their actions. My hobbies are training, Fūinjutsu, reading and playing Shogi. My dream… well to be honest I've never really thought much about it, I guess living a good life as a shinobi  
before I settle down and have a family at some point is as good a dream as any, but first I have to help a few with their own dreams so that I can have my own."

That got welcoming smiles from Naruto, Anko and Sayaka, with looks of intrigue from Sakara and Kakashi while Sasuke scoffed and looked away.

Kakashi cleared his throat then, "Okay then, now that we've all introduced ourselves, I think it would be best if we explained what's going to happen now, you see, seeing as you technically all pass your exams those were more of a testing period to  
make sure those of you who passed were actually capable of becoming shinobi, can't waste valuable Jōnin's time when they could be out earning the village funding and completing missions now. So now here comes the good news bad news part, you've  
all got one more test to take, I'll be taking my team and Anko will be taking her team and we'll both be giving our teams one final test to make sure you're ready, the bad part is that our exams have a sixty-six percent passing percent so that  
means at least one or more of you will be going back to the academy after this," Kakashi smiled through his mask.

The Genin stiffened hearing this, Kenta narrowed his gaze on Kakashi trying to tell if he was lying or not, which was the hard part seeing as he only had his eye and the general shape of his face to go off.

Anko scoffed on the spot, "Speak for yourself Kakashi. Unlike you I already know my two are up to snuff, they both pass my test without even taking it, I know they have the right stuff, that's why my team will be there watching your team to make sure  
you actually perform the test right."

Kenta and Sayaka high fived hearing that with Midnight giving a bark in celebration, while Sasuke growled in anger at the pair getting ahead of him again.

Sakara frowned, "But Anko-sensei, how is that fair, if we have to do a test shouldn't they have to as well?"

Anko smirked, "That's the breaks bubble gum my team my rules. If I say they pass, they pass. Hell if it was up to me Naruto would be passing too, but seeing as he's on Kakashi's team it's his call. So how about it Kakashi, let's get this test started  
to you can pass'm already."

Kakashi sweat dropped, "Actually Anko I was planning to perform the test tomorrow morning. You know give my team time to get to know each other and all…" Kakashi started to explain only to stop when Anko groaned.

"Not a chance Kakashi, Hokage-Sama said for me to make sure you actually do some shit today so, you're doing the test today and failing or passing them today, no arguments." Anko said pointing at him with a smirk.

Kakashi sighed, "I'm not getting much of a say in this am I?" he asked sarcastically.

Anko smirked, "None what so ever." she said before looking to Sayaka and Naruto who were on either side of Sakara and Sasuke, "You two, bring the Emo and bubble gum to training ground seven. Cyclops and I will catch up." she ordered as the two nodded.

Naruto placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder before the pair disappeared into a yellow leaf shunshin while Sayaka did the same to Sakara in a violate shunshin, while Kenta knelt down and put his hand on Midnight as they followed suite in a crimson  
leaf shunshin.

Kakashi blinked seeing the teams disappear "Those three Genin know Shunshin at their age, impressive."

Anko smirked, "Oh you haven't seen nothing yet cyclops, now come on." she said putting her hand on his shoulder making sure he couldn't run and disappeared in the same manner with purple leaves.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Thirty seconds later one by one the group arrives by Shunshin in the middle of training ground seven, Naruto takes his hand off Sasuke's shoulder who immediately turn on him glaring.

"What the hell was that, how did you do that, show me." Sasuke snarled angrily at Naruto, enraged that Naruto could do such a thing and he couldn't.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Training and hard work, Baka. That's how, not my fault you're too slow to pick things up on your own."

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger at Naruto and was about to swing for him when Sayaka spoke after arriving with Sakara, "Don't even try it Sasuke. You're a Genin now, attacking a fellow Konoha shinobi will get you in a mess of trouble with the Hokage."  
she warned as she tried to steady Sakura who wasn't used to moving so fast.

"Plus," Sounded Kenta as he arrived with Midnight, "then you'd have to answer to me, and we both know that I can kick your ass around the village and back, so do us both the favour and cool off before I boot your ass in the river." He finished as  
he stood up putting just a small amount of Sakki in his tone making the Uchiha freeze up as their eyes met for a moment before Sasuke looked away lowering his fist, seconds before Anko and Kakashi arrived in their own shunshin.

Kakashi looked and Naruto, Sayaka and Kenta with a curious gaze, "Ok colour me impressed, three Genin knowing how to use the shunshin to such an extent where they're able to take a passenger each, very impressive, that's a Chūnin level technique."

Kenta smirked, "Thanks for the compliment, Kakashi-san, but I've been using it since I was eleven years old, and Sayaka since she was twelve, same with Otōto."

Kakashi blinked, "Indeed and who taught you?"

Kenta shrugged, "Learned it myself. Not so hard if you think about it for a bit, all it is really is chakra speed with a small Genjutsu to hide your departure as you use your chakra speed to travel to your destination."

Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Indeed."

Anko smirked, "Hey cyclops quit drooling over my team and go train your own. You've got one more than me so better get started." she said with a sarcastic undertone.

Kakashi sighed, "Hai, Hai." he said as he reached into his pocket and took out two bells.

Kenta blinked seeing them, _'Bells… wait didn't Sarutobi-sensei say he did something similar with his last students?'_ Kenta asked himself as he tried to think back to some of the lessons he'd had with Hiruzen years ago before his eye's widened, _'That's it the bell test, a test of teamwork… crap, this team will never work together, shit, too bad I didn't tell Otōto about that test beforehand, he's on his own here.'_ Kenta  
realised as he watched the test unfold.

"Alright you three," Kakashi said as he let the bells jingle, "the object of this test of yours is simple, you just have to get these bells from me, using whatever means necessary. Come at me with the intent to kill otherwise you won't have a chance  
of getting them, got it."

The results of Kakashi's words were varying amongst the three Genin, Sasuke narrows his eyes on the bells, Naruto crossed his arms as he went into thought on the words and Sakura gulped nervously before she realises something.

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells, and three of us how's that supposed to work?" she asked a little confused.

Kakashi eye smiled, "Well I would have thought that'd be obvious Sakura, there are only two bells so that way, it's guaranteed that one of you will be going back to the academy. Those with a bell pass, the odd one out fails, it's that simple."

Anko smirked as she turned on her heels, "Come on you two, let's get out of the way, something tells me this is going to be fun to watch." Anko said to both Kenta and Sayaka who nodded and followed, Midnight sticking close to Kenta's side.

Once out of hearing range Kenta smirked, "I can't believe it, that's the same test Sarutobi-sensei used on the three Sannin when they were Genin. Guess it must have been passed down the line, and Kakashi picked it up from the Yondaime."

Sayaka giggled, "I guess so, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around you being a student of the Sandaime. I asked Kaa-chan about it in private last night and she told me he'd been training you for years, how come you never told me? It's like your  
one of the three Sannin! How can you not mention that?" she asked looking at him in awe.

Kenta smirked and shook his head, "Yeah I'm sorry about that. I didn't have much of a choice there. Sarutobi-sensei is the Hokage, and so we thought it would be seen as favouritism if it was discovered he was training me so we had to keep things quiet.  
Only a few knew about it and it's still very sensitive, and as for me being one of the Sannin, as much as I would love to think that I know I'm not. They were given those titles when they fought Sanshōuo no Hanzō in the second shinobi war and  
survived, unless I do something great like that I don't think I'll ever be worthy of title like that." he said with a smirk.

Anko smirked hearing the statement, "Eh you never know, you might pull something like that off one of these days." she said before looking back to the test, "Now come on the fun's about to start." she said as the others looked back as well.

size="1" noshade=""

 **With team seven**

Naruto exhaled as he thought through what he had just been told, Kenta had taught him to always question everything he heard, especially when it came from another shinobi, words always carried hidden meanings when things sounded simple they usually  
weren't, there head to be another meaning to the test.

He started to divide down what he knew, Konoha Genin teams were always in groups of four, one Jōnin-sensei and three Genin, at that he knew what Kakashi was saying was completely wrong, he couldn't send one of them back to the academy, not once  
in Konoha's history had there been a different type of team, well that had been the case until team eleven in this graduation group but that had been on the Hokage's discretion so it was unlikely to be allowed any other way, the only other  
team was when a Jōnin decided to take a single student, but even then those had to be approved by the Hokage.

 _'It doesn't make sense. If he's bluffing about being able to send just one of us back to the academy what's the purpose of making us fight over the… that's it the bells, he wants us to fight over them he'd trying to divide us so that we won't work together and turn on each other to make one of us fail, or if this was a real mission die. Obtaining the bells is the mission objective not passing, he's testing us to see if we can work together.'_ Naruto  
realised as it clicked with him before he mentally winced, _'Just great, out of all the team tests ours had to be one on teamwork, when neither of my so called team mates will want to work with me.'_ he mentally groans before shaking  
his head, "This test isn't going to work Kakashi-sensei." Naruto spoke bluntly.

Kakashi blinked seeing Naruto shake his head, "Oh and why won't it work Naruto, are you so unsure any of you will get the bells off me without even trying?" he asked giving an eye smile.

Naruto shook his head again, "It's not that Kakashi-sensei, the test won't work because this team will never be able to complete the hidden purpose behind this test." he said bluntly again.

Both Sakara and Sasuke looked at Naruto like he had grown a second head, Kakashi looked at him with some shock while each member of team eleven smirked seeing Naruto figure out the test before it had even begun.

Kakashi blinked wide eyed for a moment, "So you mean to say, you've already figured it out?"

Naruto nodded, "I know how to look underneath the underneath, the second I heard your words I could tell they had a double meaning, and after thinking it through I realised what you're trying to do, and I can say with absolute certainty in this  
test this team will fail cause there is no way this team can do what your test actually requires, not its true objective anyway."

Sakura blinks owlishly, "What do you mean, what true objective, all we have to do is get the bells." she said not understanding one thing at all.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had just stopped listening not considering what was said was in any way important, all he had to do was get the bells by any means necessary. If that means he had to go through his so-called teammates to get them then  
so be it.

Kakashi sighed and frowned looking at the team in front of him and weighed up their individual reactions before frowning, "Do you really think that Naruto?" he asked wanting to be sure, when Naruto nodded Kakashi sighed again, "Alright then, but  
I'll have to see it for myself, so we'll continue with this test anyway and I'll judge afterwards on basis, now you each have one hour to get the bells." he says taking a small egg timer out of his pouch and turning the dial and putting it  
back in his pouch, "You time starts now."

At that last comment, the three Genin leapt backwards with speed as they took to hiding in the treelines and bushes keeping out of sight like they had been trained to do.

Kakashi stood still and glances around the clearing with his one eye, _'Impressive, they at least know how to hid themselves properly and keep out of sight, I can only just about make out Sakura's hair and I can't even see Naruto anywhere very impressive but I wonder where…'_ Kakashi  
thought to himself before his eye widened as he felt a chakra signature close by to him and moved on instinct turning slightly and reaching out with his right hand and grabbing at what he sensed as his hand wrapped around an invisible forearm  
before the air shimmered and Naruto came into view behind Kakashi reaching out to try and swipe the bells, Kakashi smirked, "Nice try with the **Tōton Jutsu (Transparency Jutsu)** Naruto, your stealth is good but against someone  
like me it won't be that easy."

Naruto smirked back, "I didn't think it would." he said before he quickly took in a deep breath which made Kakashi's eye widen before a blast of air came out of Naruto's mouth laced with chakra and moved with speed catching Kakashi in the gut.

Kakashi sent skidding back several feet his eye clenched shut as he groaned in discomfort rubbing his gut where the impact had hit, opening his eye he could see Naruto at the ready with his Ninjatō drawn with a smirk on his face as he lowered  
himself closer to the ground.

"I've been looking forward to this Kakashi-sensei, to see how I stack up against someone of your calibre, would you do me the favour of grading my skills. I want to know where I stand." Naruto said as he twisted his blade in his hand.

Kakashi smirked as he reached for his pouch and took out a kunai, "Sure I don't see why not, show me what you've got Naruto." he said as he slipped into a stance.

Hearing the challenge Naruto's grin widened before he disappeared into a wind shunshin only to reappear in front of Kakashi as their weapons clashed and sparks started to fly as the two met before Naruto disappeared again in another shunshin and  
Kakashi turned fast blocking another Ninjatō slash, this repeated several times over as they clashed with varying speed, before Naruto touched the ground and in an upward slash from below went for Kakashi who just had time to deflect the attack  
before Naruto pushed forward on his heel lunging at Kakashi who sidestepped just in time as Naruto went past him only for a kick to swing at Kakashi's head which he blocked with his forearm as Naruto touched the ground before spinning on his  
hand and threw another kick which Kakashi blocked again and leaped back out of Naruto's range as the two took stances again.

Kakashi smirked taking a breath, "Not bad Naruto, your speeds excellent and you're a fast thinker moving on your attacks not giving your opponent time to think, and your skill with that sword of yours is also not to be trifled with, if the team  
passes I might be able to give you some pointers on where to improve on your technique."

Naruto smiled, "And I would gladly accept Kakashi-sensei, it would be an honour to learn from Kopī Ninja no Kakashi the son of the legendary Shiroi Kiba."

Kakashi's eye widened, "You know of my Tou-san, and of me? How? Do you have a bingo book also?"

Naruto chuckled slightly with a nod, "That and, I always do my homework Kakashi-sensei, when I first took up my blade Nii-chan had me do research on all shinobi from this village who'd used formidable style and techniques in Kenjutsu, your Tou-san  
and another were the styles I focused on and researched on in greater detail, as well as the men themselves. Your Tou-san was a great man who valued the lives of his teammates over the mission. He was honourable to the very end, regardless  
of what people say, he's the kind of man I respect."

Kakashi's eye widened at Naruto's word and he smiled under his mask before the two of them started to clash again the sparks flying from their weapons.

* * *

 **With team eleven**

Anko whistled impressed, "Damn looks like blondie's Kenjutsu has come a long way, Kakashi actually looks like he's having some trouble there."

Sayaka smirked, "Well with such a good teacher like Kenta-Kun I'd be surprised if he didn't. I remember the few lessons he gave me, my arms were sore for a week after them both."

Kenta chuckled, "I wasn't that bad, and to be honest I didn't do too much in Naruto-Nii's Kenjutsu training, I only helped him find the styles on which to form his own out of while I was working on my own."

Sayaka blinked, "Then who did he choose to try and copy with his style other than Kakashi-sensei's Tou-san? I feel like I recognise that style from somewhere."

Kenta smiled, "I thought you might. It was actually one of your clan he based it off, a Shisui Uchiha if I remember correctly, he was known as Shunshin no Shisui. Naruto liked his style because it combined raw speed and attacking power, and then  
he combined it with the flow and style of Sakumo Hatake the Shiroi Kiba of Konoha."

Sayaka's eye's widened, "He's using Shisui-Nii's style?" she asked in shock.

Kenta blinked, "You knew him personally?" he asked a little shocked at the familiar honorific.

Sayaka nodded her head, "Yeah, growing up he and Itachi-Nii were best friends. Most of the time they were inseparable, but he went missing a few days before the massacre happened." she said looking down feeling a pain of pain talking about that  
day.

Kenta frowned and moved closer to her wrapping his arm around her shoulder, "Hey it's alright, I'm sorry I brought it up, I know it's still painful for you." he said feeling like an ass for not thinking about her beforehand.

Sayaka shook her head, "It's ok Kenta-Kun, I'll be fine, I'm just a little shocked is all, I'm sure that Naruto-Nii will be able to learn his style and use it well."

Anko smirked seeing the pair of them like that and decided to help change the subject slightly, "So speaking of Kenjutsu style's how's yours coming along, you almost had it complete last I checked?"

Kenta smirked and nodded once, "Yeah it's almost perfect, but I haven't really tried it out much on many opponents so I don't know how it will fair. But any style can be improved with practice, hopefully, I'll be able to master and perfect it  
within the next year."

Anko smirked, "Well when you do let me know, I know just the two you can fight to really test your style on once you do."

Kenta nodded before looking back out to the testing area as both Kakashi and Naruto were at a standoff again. Before Naruto ducked down and threw himself into a backwards summersault kicking out at Kakashi forcing him back just as Naruto threw  
a combined slash at him as the pair broke apart.

But before Kakashi could press his advantage as resume the attack, several kunai and shuriken came flying out of the tree tops heading right for Kakashi, who saw them coming and turned starting to deflect them with his weapon.

Naruto took advantage of the distraction and went for his own attack only to skid to a halt as he deflected two kunai that went for him just as Sasuke burst from the tree line running through hand signs.

Naruto saw him and recognised the Jutsu, and leapt backwards just as the Uchiha stopped on a tiger hand sign and took in a breath, **"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)** he called before spewing forth a  
large fireball at both Kakashi and Naruto.

Naruto gritted his teeth, pissed about being interrupted, before forming a hand sign and shunshining out of the way as the fireball looked to hit Kakashi head on as an explosion roared out leaving a large crater on the ground a couple feet deep.

Midnight growled from beside Kenta as the red head growled in anger as well, "Yeah I saw it too." he voiced to his Ninken partner, "That Teme didn't even wait for Naruto-Nii to get out of the way properly before he attacked, and he sabotages Otōto's  
attempt to take advantage of the situation by throwing kunai at him also, their trajectory was too far off to be a mistake."

Sayaka clenched her fists not saying anything, she had seen it too and was as always appalled with her older twins' actions.

Sasuke approached the crater and smirked as he slid down and started to look around to see if he could find the bells hoping he hadn't melted them with his attack but frowned not finding anything at all.

It was at this time that Sakara came out of the treeline from her hiding spot, part of her worried about Naruto not seeing if the fireball had hit him or if Sasuke had actually managed to kill Kakashi with that attack, while she and Naruto had  
never really spoken much in the academy, she didn't want him to die like that.

As she approached the crater and looked down into it, she saw Sasuke looking around but before she could speak up the ground erupted from below Sasuke's feet and a dust cloud filled the crater, Sakura covered her eyes from the dust and dirt that  
hit her, only to look back into the crater as the dust faded away as her eyes grew wide, seeing only Sasuke's head in the crater the shock made her scream before fainting on the spot.

The next second Kakashi erupted from the ground a meter away from a Sasuke who was currently buried up to the neck, before smiling, "And that would be the **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu)** " he said before  
looking over at the unconscious Sakara and sweat dropped, _'Did she really just faint?'_ he thought before his eye widened feeling a fast approaching chakra signature and leaped to the side just as Naruto appeared in the air above him  
out of a mid-air shunshin his Ninjatō glowing as he slashed the air.

With the slash the air rippled as a slash of air raced at Kakashi who just about dodged it and the attack carved a nasty gash in the ground, Kakashi sweat dropped, "Ok I know I said come at me with the intent to kill me but don't you think a **Shinkūken (Wind style: Shock Blade)** of  
that power is pushing it slightly?" he said before reaching for another kunai and blocking Naruto as he appeared out of another shunshin and attacked with another downwards slash, before the two of them pushed apart and leapt back, "All the  
same though. I'm impressed, your timing is perfect, and you waited for just right moment to attack, you're definitely on the right path to becoming an excellent shinobi." Kakashi complimented him.

Naruto smirked, "Oh you haven't seen anything yet Kakashi-sensei." he said forming a cross hand sign as six plumes of smoke appeared to his left each faded to reveal another Naruto each with their Ninjatō drawn with grins on their faces, "We're  
just getting warmed up." they all said in union.

Kakashi sweat dropped as he raised his kunai, "I'm not going to catch a break with you am I?" he said chuckling as the seven Naruto's shook their heads before all seven disappeared one after the other in shunshins and Kakashi immediately went  
on the defensive as slash after slash was launched at him and he only barely deflected one before the next came and he had to move with speed just to keep himself from getting carved up.

Anko whistled again watching the repeating attack, "Damn when the blondie goes all out he's got some serious skills, look at him go don't think Kakashi can keep up with this for much longer."

Sayaka was wide-eyed "Wow, look at him go, it was hard with just one of him now there's seven, I can't keep up with their movements never mind telling which one is the real one."

Kenta chuckled, "You're not supposed to, he's been busting his ass working on his clone's teamwork, and now it's paying off. Otōto is pulling out all the stops for this one, but something tells me this would have been shorter if Kakashi was actually  
going all out, he hasn't even raised his Hitai-ate yet to use his Sharingan eye, if he used that, he'd have no bother keeping up."

Anko smirked, "Yeah, no shit, but I don't think Kakashi would use that against a Genin, he'd be the laughing stock of the Jōnin-sensei's if he had to resort to his trump card on a Genin." she finished just as the sound of the egg timer sounded  
from Kakashi's pouch.

Hearing the timer's bell, Naruto and Kakashi stopped clashing and Naruto leapt backwards and skidded to a halt releasing his stance and sheathing his Ninjatō as Kakashi put away his kunai. This was also when Sasuke finally got himself dug out  
of the hole that Kakashi had buried him in, hearing the timer he did not look happy.

Team eleven smirked as they came over, Sayaka knelt by Sakura and put her hand on her channelling chakra into her when she woke with a start looking around not sure what had happened.

"Your test is over Sakara, you passed out after seeing only Sasuke-Nii's head above ground, I assume you thought he'd be decapitated, but he's fine." Sayaka said as she helped Sakara stand, "I'd suggest you try and strengthen your resolve, passing  
out on a mission would endanger the lives of your teammates or get you killed."

Sakura frowned hearing that and looked disappointed in herself as she moved to join the rest of her team as Sayaka stood beside Kenta, Anko and Midnight over to the side.

Kakashi sighed as he looked over Sasuke and Sakura shaking his head, "Well it looks like Naruto was right about this team, neither of you got what this test was actually about, and the only one who showed actually promise of being a shinobi was  
Naruto, you other two should just quit the academy all together, I have half a mind to make that recommendation to Hokage-Sama and request to take Naruto as my apprentice after seeing this sorry team in action."

Sasuke raged at the statement as he pulled his kunai, "How dare you I'm…" he started to say as he ran at Kakashi ready to stab him but before he could even get two steps he found himself, face slammed flat on the ground his arm twisted behind  
his back with a second kunai at his throat with Kakashi kneeling on his back a very unimpressed look in his eye.

Sakura gasped seeing the scene while the others rolled their eyes with a single thought, _'When will this Baka learn?'_

Kakashi scowled down at Sasuke gripping the teen's wrist hard making him wince, "You just don't get it do you Sasuke. Who you are dosen't mean shit in the shinobi ranks, only your skill and rank does, and right now I outmatch you in both, Genin.  
So just stay down and shut up while you listen to my explanation, did you even realise what Naruto was hinting about earlier, the true purpose of this test?" he asked irritated by the male Uchiha.

Sakura gulped slightly afraid for Sasuke at that moment, "W-What do you mean, we just had to get the bells?" she stated.

Naruto sighed shaking his head, "No Sakura, the hidden meaning behind the test was teamwork."

Kakashi looked over his shoulder at Naruto with an eye smile, "So you did get it after all. Could you please explain it to these two for me?" he asked with a mildly happy tone.

Naruto nodded, "The bells where the mission objective, all we had to do was obtain them, but the wordplay you used made it seem like we were meant to compete in order to get the bells, you purposely pitted us against each other in order to see  
if we could put our differences aside and complete the mission given to us and work as a team. That's the whole purpose behind putting us into squads, one Jōnin and three Genin, the test was rigged right from the start. If we had gone up against  
you one on one you'd demolish us, the only chance we had was if we worked as a team… well that was the norm anyway."

Kakashi eye smiled, "Correct Naruto." he said giving Sasuke one last hard wrist squeeze before letting the Genin back to his feet as he took his place back in line.

Anko chuckled, "So Kakashi what's the verdict on these sorry two then, it would be a shame to toss Naruto back to the academy along with them just because they screwed up the test."

Kakashi nodded, "True, and I wasn't joking earlier about dropping them and taking Naruto as an apprentice, or I could just drop them back and see about Naruto joining your team, that way we'd have a complete team, and I could still help teach,  
but something tells me there would be a few who would voice against that." he finished with a sigh.

Anko groaned, "Let me guess, the so-called voices from on high are pushing you to pass the Uchiha heir and train him to get him to Chūnin faster so he can start his CRA responsibilities sooner," he said with a fed up look.

When Kakashi nodded, Sayaka looked at Anko confused, "Anko-sensei, what the CRA and what does it have to do with my Nii-san?"

Anko sighed, "The CRA stands for the Clan restoration act, it was a law passed by the Nidaime Hokage, in the event that a clan's numbers drop dangerously low to near extinction. It permits shinobi of the rank of Chūnin or civilians of the age  
of eighteen, to take on multiple wives or spouses in order to repopulate their clan, back about three years it was the rank of Genin that the law applied to. But there was a vote called for by Mikoto-sama calling for the rank to be raised,  
guess she didn't think it was right to force anyone to do that as young as some graduation ages are so Chūnin makes it easier on most. It was also her way of protecting you I'm guessing, so that you don't have to go through that till your  
older, because it would mean that you'd have to have a minimum of four children before you would be given the option of continuing or not under the law, which she also had lowered as well, it used to be six, and she's been denying every call  
for you and herself to be put on the CRA but she has the right as Clan head to deny them all, but once your Chūnin or eighteen she can't anymore as the law calls for it unless your already in a serious relationship." she explained and towards  
the end sounded disgusted with the concept of that happening to Sayaka.

It got a varied of reactions from some, Sakura was completely shocked, Naruto looked disgusted at the very fact, Sasuke himself had a smug look already having been made aware of the law years before.

Sayaka for her part was shaking slightly afraid, knowing now what a possibility of her future might be. Kenta saw this and took her hand rubbing it gently to help calm her, she nodded to him in thanks but still looked worried.

Kakashi sighed, "Yeah that's about the height of it, I was hoping that this team would be up to some form so I could at least not feel bad about passing them and pass them normally, but with the pressure from the council I have to."

Naruto chuckled before tossing something at Kakashi, "Well at least you have one out of three that you don't have to feel bad about." he said confidently.

Kakashi grabbed what he was tossed and looked at it eye widened the two bells, before looking to his waist and seeing the strings cut, before looking back at Naruto, "When? I was so focused on the fight I never checked."

Naruto shrugged, "When you closed your eye after I hit you with my burst of wind, I pulled my blade and cut them off as you were flying away and then snagged them before you could see. I wanted the fight to continue so I kept my mouth shut."

Kakashi eye smiled, "Well then, looks like this team can pass after all."

Kenta and Naruto shared a smirk as the two of them bro fisted while, Sayaka giggled and Sakara let out a breath of relief for passing, Sasuke just gave a grunt of approval.

Kenta smirked looking at Naruto, "Looks like we're both Genin now, and now you can finally start climbing the ladder to be Hokage."

Naruto smirked back, "You know it, just you watch, I'll become Hokage and then I'll keep my promise and beat your sorry butt."

Kenta chuckled, "Is that before or after you're finally able to get through a training session without getting a Senbon in your ass." he laughed as Naruto grumbled in annoyance.

Anko smirked at the two brothers before she gave a whistle getting everyone's attention, "Alright then, seeing as the test's over I say we all go out for a meal, Kakashi's buying." she said with a laugh

Kakashi blinked, "What! Why do I have to buy?"

Anko smirked, "Because you actually let a Genin get the bells off you, and if it wasn't for me your Genin would still be in the academy for the next two hours." she called back with a snort of laughter, while Sayaka, Naruto and Kenta chuckled  
in agreement, while Kakashi just slumped in depression and followed.

Sasuke scoffed and started to walk off, Sakura ran after him, "Hey Sasuke-Kun, would you like to…" she started to say only to be cut off by the Uchiha with a one-word answer.

"No." Never breaking his stride.

Sakura stopped on the spot with a frown at being rejected again looking crestfallen and sighed she was about to walk away in another direction before Kakashi looked over his shoulder to see her, "Hey Sakura, come on or you'll miss out" he called  
back.

Sakuraseemed to smile at the invitation and started running to catch up with the rest of the group, maybe being on the team wouldn't be so bad after all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's notes**

 **Update time you lot. Just a quick note to mention there is some mild graphic content later in this chapter, Torture, so keep an eye out for the warning notice, it's not extreme but I wanted to give a warning so no one can complain about me not mentioning it, so enjoy and make sure to leave a review to let me know what you think, this chapter was just shy of sixteen thousand words so it's a long one, that's part of the reason it took so long to get out.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

It was late in the evening and the Jōnin sensei were all finishing up their assessments and were gathering to give their report as they gathered together into the upper most room of the Hokage tower.

The room was a small square room with no windows and only a single door into the room on the far side. Opposite it was a knee high desk with a number of papers on it. The room was lit by several candles on either side of the room and three on the small desk.

Behind the desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi knelt in the lotus position as he took a breath from his pipe and exhaled slowly as he looked over the papers in front of him as the Jōnin entered the room and fell into the formation to give their reports.

As the last Jōnin entered the room and the door closed, Hiruzen let out another breath of smoke before looking up at his Jōnin.

"Alright, let's have the latest team reports, Team one?" Hiruzen asked as he looked at the back.

A standard Jōnin stepped forward, "Failed, they didn't grasp the reason till I told them, they need to re-sit the last year of the academy before being put on the reserve listings for a few months to make sure they get it."

Hiruzen nodded as he marked it down and the Jōnin stepped back, "Team two?"

The next Jōnin stepped forward, "Failed, completely useless, I recommend they're dropped from the program and their charka sealed, they don't have the mentality of shinobi at all."

Hiruzen nodded grimly as he marked it down and called for the next, as the same report was given from each team with either a last year re-sit recommendation before being put on the reserve listings or a total fail. Taking another pull from his pipe Hiruzen let it out as he spoke, "Team seven?"

At this Kakashi stepped forward, "Team seven, Pass."

Hearing this the other Jōnin all look to him in shock most with eyes wide, bar Anko who just smirked from the side already knowing his reasoning.

Hiruzen let a small smile grace his lips as he marked it down, "Indeed, a team has finally met your high standards Kakashi have they?"

Kakashi let out a small sigh, "Barely." he replied with a frown under his mask.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" he asked as he moved a page and lifted the team placement list, "If I recall that was the team Genin Uchiha, Haruno and Uzumaki were placed on," he said remembering the placement clearly but just making sure from the list, "what are your opinions on them, do they meet your standards or not?" he asked looking up at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

Kakashi nodded, "When I met them originally before the test, I didn't exactly have high hopes for them, but that slowly started to change during and after the introductions, some for the better and some for the worse." Kakashi explained as all the other Jōnin listened to him, "The test showed the multiple areas the team needs to improve on, individually the team will work, they just need some experience at it is all."

Hiruzen nodded as he took another puff from his pipe, "I see, and what makes you think this? What are their individual skills?" he asked as he set his pipe down and moved some papers again lifting the Genin files.

Kakashi nodded hearing the order, "Genin Uzumaki Naruto, my original assessment of him was he didn't look like much, but I was pleasantly surprised during his test," he said while Anko suppressed a snort of amusement hearing Kakashi, "he is skilled in Kenjutsu and is at such a level that his speed proved to be a challenge to fend off during the test, and proved to be even more impressive when he combined his skills with that of the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** and the **Shunshin**. I am currently unaware of his maximum number of clones for his technique, but during the exam I had to repel six Kage Bunshin along with the original each moving with shunshin to enhance their speed." he reported as multiple of the Jōnin couldn't believe what they were hearing, "I am not ashamed to say if there were many more of them I would have had to resort to my Sharingan in order to keep up, they were moving that fast. Next, to that he possesses a specialised number of Jutsu that I witnessed during the test, each that works well with his individual style, he is well trained and disciplined in the shinobi arts, if he continues down this road I can see him becoming an excellent shinobi and a valuable resource to the village."

Hiruzen nodded as his smile grew somewhat hearing of Naruto's progress and suppressed a small chuckle, _'Well I think it's safe to say that Naruto's training under his brother has paid off, the two of them should be fine now.'_ he thought to himself only to be broken from his thoughts as he heard muttering coming from the back of the group of Jōnin, and he wasn't the only one as both he, Kakashi and Anko's turned their gaze as they heard the whispers.

"How the hell'd the demon brat get so strong?", "This is bad, if the demon gets any stronger we're in trouble.", "I can't believe he's passing that monster, is he insane?"

Hearing the last comment Hiruzen's patients snapped before every voice in the room fell silent as the air rippled with his release of Sakki as those responsible for the whispers trembled under the feeling and the glares from the powerful Kage, which was backed up by a hardened one eye glare from Kakashi and a pissed off snarl from Anko as the three responsible gulped.

After a moment the Sakki faded after Hiruzen felt his warning was well received before he cleared his throat and the glares from Kakashi and Anko moved off before Hiruzen nodded to Kakashi to continue.

"The next member of my team, Genin Uchiha Sasuke, at first I wasn't overly concerned about him, he possesses average skills for his age and shows potential as his reserves are slightly above average. The problems arose later during the test. While his academy scores are good what worries me is his mindset and mentality, he is quick to anger. A trait I'm assuming came from his Uchiha blood similar to his Katon affinity which is what his Jutsu arsenal seems to be limited to offensive wise at least." Kakashi said before reaching up and rubbing the bridge of his nose through his mask before continuing, "The main problem arises from his disregard for his teammates and his lack of concern for their well-being and safety. Which was something that I witnessed first-hand during the test when he launched a **"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)** at myself while Genin Uzumaki was still engaging me in combat. While I concede the fact I told them to come at me with the intent to kill, I didn't tell him to do so in such a way that would endanger his other teammates. Luckily Genin Uzumaki was able to **Shunshin** out of the way before it hit and I escaped via **Kawarimi** , had we would have both been caught in the impact that caused a large crater in the middle of the training field."

Whispers started to float around the room again, these ones questioning the Uchiha heir's loyalties if he was willing to endanger his own team mates like that, others whispering why Kakashi was passing the team with a potentially unstable Genin.

Ignoring the whispers Kakashi continued, "The last member of my team is the one I think will require the most work, Genin Haruno Sakura. While her academy reports have her listed in one of the higher tiers in the class knowledge wise, her mindset leaves me questioning why she is still in the shinobi program at all as in my opinion she showed no discernible skill that would lead me to believe she is fit to be a Konoha Kunoichi, she shows more attention to Genin Uchiha that her actual shinobi career, she actually passed out towards the end of the test when she thought her Uchiha has lost his head as a result of my **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu)**." Kakashi said as he shook his head in disappointment, "Her only redeeming qualities are her abilities to memorise information, which is how I assumed she got such high marks on her written exam, and her small charka reserves and the resulting high levels of control." Kakashi said as he crossed his arms, "It might be possible to make something of her if she is broken out of current mindset and she is given the proper training, with her high control she might make a valuable Iryō-Nin or a Genjutsu mistress, although in her current state that might not be possible." Kakashi finished with a sigh.

Hiruzen nodded as he wrote down the information for the shinobi archives before placing his brush down, "Very well, your concerns are noted and I share them concerning Genin Uchiha's mindset and mentality towards his team mates, you're to watch him closely and inform me should he start to deteriorate further. Recommendations will then be discussed on further steps whether he needs counselling and if it would be necessary to remove him from the program for a time or completely altogether." he instructed as Kakashi nodded and stepped back, "Team eight?"

Kurenai stepped forward, "Team eight, pass."

Hiruzen nodded his head, "I see, and what are your thoughts on your three Genin, are there any problems like team seven?"

Kurenai shook her head, "Not to such an extent no, although the team isn't without its problems." she explained, "They tracked me down as per the teams test and worked well utilising each other's strengths. Genin Inuzuka Kiba and his Ninken partner Akamaru work well as expected, Kiba is a little full of himself but that's to be expected for an Inuzuka male, but he isn't reckless and knows his limitations. Both he and his partner work well in a team and in combat when the team confronted me and attempted to subdue me for capture."

"Genin Hyūga Hinata is as expected, very skilled in her family Taijutsu style although she is currently lacking the mentality to use it in a lethal capacity, given her home life I can hardly say it is a surprise." she said but did not elaborate further, "Her Byakugan was the team's first attempt to locate me which was well utilized to track down the number of Kage Bunshin I had scattered throughout the testing area as a means to counter it."

"The final member and most surprising of the team was Genin Aburame Shino. I attempted to throw him off balance by attacking him with Taijutsu in order to extort what I had assumed was his weaker area. What was surprising was that he actually was able to defend against my attacks and to my surprise proved more capable than I thought before surprising me again by revealing he possessed the knowledge of close combat weapons not taught in the academy or by his clan which is something of a relief to see he has branched out slightly beyond his insects. I will not reveal what his weapons are, as he requests that I keep that information secret, as they are his trump card in a fight should his opponent attempt close range combat."

Hiruzen nodded as he noted down some information from her report, "I see, your report is acceptable." he said as Kurenai stepped back, "Team ten?"

Asuma stepped forward with his hands in his pockets looking relaxed as he exhaled a break of smoke from the cigarette in his mouth, "Team ten's a pass as well. Their teamwork is a little on the rough side but that's to be expected for first time teams. There are some clashing personalities at first but after they started working together as a team they worked well."

"Genin Nara was as expected lazy but when it came to planning out a strategy to face and capture me, as per the test, his plans were well thought out and executed playing to his teammates strengths and covering their weaknesses."

"Genin Akimichi fell into place almost immediately with Genin Nara when the plan was done, the two of them have a history of working together in the academy so it was only natural for them to do so. His clan's expansion Jutsu was the power play that Genin Nara relied on for his plan while he kept me moving with his shadows."

"The teams friction came from Genin Yamanaka, she had her mind set on being the team leader and was somewhat reluctant to listen to Genin Nara's plan. It was only when she couldn't think of a better one after her own plans had their flaws pointed out to her that she finally conceded to listen to her team mates. While I admit that I was concerned about her mindset being similar to Genin Haruno's in team seven, it would appear that being from a shinobi clan and responsibilities has kept her more grounded that Genin Haruno who comes from civilian roots, while she still has an infatuation with Genin Uchiha she still has enough skill to hold her own with her team mates, but she still needs a lot of work."

Hiruzen nodded slowly, "Very well keep me notified on their progress, the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho will be a boon for the village in the not so distant future I hope." he said before looking to Anko, "Finally team eleven."

Anko smirked stepping forward, "Do you even have to ask? They passed my test before I even gave it. Heck I'd recommend both of them for promotion right now if I didn't already know you'd deny it, both of them are well above Genin level, only thing holding them back is experience in the field."

Her response started up another wave of multiple whispers of disbelief and uncertainty among the gathered Jōnin all except for Kakashi who remained neutral and looked un-shocked by her words. Kurenai rounded on her friend looking at her with shock.

"Anko, take this seriously and stop joking," Kurenai started, "there's no way two fresh out of the academy Genin could be ready for promotion their first day without even doing one mission yet."

Anko narrowed her eyes on her friend before speaking, "I am taking this seriously, and I would never joke about those two like this, both of my two have skills well above that of any Genin in their year."

"Genin Uchiha Sayaka has Jōnin level chakra reserves on top of her extremely high levels of control, she passed the extra portion of her Genin exam by demonstrating a B-rank Iryō Ninjutsu flawlessly, which I know for a fact is only one of the many she can do. She also possesses the skill to perform multiple of her clans Katon Jutsu as well as multiple Genjutsu all without the aid of her clans Dōjutsu." Anko said as she squared up to Kurenai, "Her Taijutsu is flawless, damn near perfect and she also is nothing like her brother and actually cares for her teammate. The only thing missing is her Sharingan which she will be able to awaken hopefully before the first month is up." Anko said as she crossed her arms over her check before looking to the other Jōnin in the room.

"The second member of my team, Genin Uzumaki Kenta, is even more skilled than his teammate. His chakra reserves are well above that of any Jōnin I've ever meet, and his control is always increasing to cope with it. His teamwork with his Ninken partner, Midnight, is next to flawless which is a given after they've trained, relentlessly, together for four years. On top of all this Kenta also possess multiple high level Ninjutsu that he can perform with ease thanks to his training and large reserves, and he is made even more lethal with his unique Kenjutsu style and the fact that he is a prodigy in Fūinjutsu." Anko said before turning back to Kurenai, "Combining all those facts it's no shock why both of them were named the rookies of their year, heck they'd probably be the rookies of the other ten graduating classes in the years ahead and behind them, and it's that fact why I would put them up for promotion if I could." she said as Kurenai seemed to waiver under Anko's argument.

But as she did more whispers began to circle the room that made it to Anko's ear's, "This isn't good.", "First the demon now its brother.", "It's too close to the Uchiha princess.", "Someone should warn Mikoto-sama."

But before Anko could turn to shut the idiots up, the Hokage cleared his throat as he stood up from behind his desk, "That is enough." he stated as the air rippled once more with his Sakki as it quieted the room instantly, "Team elevens skill set is beyond reproach, they are both without a doubt highly skilled, I would never have put them on a team together on their own otherwise if there was any doubt about that fact." he spoke as Kurenai fell back in line, "It is as Anko said it is due to their lack of field experience that I did not promote them both already and is why they will be competing in the Chūnin exams when it comes time and I will be continuing to look for the third member of your team, Anko, so that they will have that opportunity. But until then they are like every other team, they must complete missions assigned to them at their judged level, no special privileges will be given regardless of their team numbers, they have the skill of a full team so they can pull the weight of one, a task they and the other teams, that have passed, will begin tomorrow. You are all dismissed, report with your teams to the mission desk starting at 08:00 tomorrow for their first missions."

With bows from each Jōnin they all filed out of the room leaving Hiruzen standing shaking his head after the door closed, _'There is still so much hatred towards those two, regardless of what they do to prove themselves, to think the will of fire could have dimmed so harshly in all these years, I just pray that it doesn't extinguish the flames of the young should that happen then we are truly lost.'_

* * *

 **Time skip- next morning- 07:00**

Kenta stood in his apartment, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a loose white vest shirt, running his hands through his long red hair, a look of utter frustration on his face that made him want to pull his hair out in his irritation as he looked down at the mess of white pages spread out on the ground in front of his feet, the black inked lines of an intricate Fūinjutsu array spread out over them, showing the various stages of the arrays construction process.

Midnight lay on his masters beg giving out a whine as it watched as Kenta turned and paced, his hands still running through his hair in frustration.

"Ahhhhh, this shouldn't be this damn hard!" Kenta yelled in frustration as he turned back to the array and looked over each of the markings of the intricate design, "It should be working. Why won't you just work!" he yelled at the pages in his angered state.

Midnight just gave another wine never having really understood what the lines were for, all he knew was his master's yelling was giving him a headache, but his ears picked up when the door opened and Sayaka walked in giggling slightly.

"You know when you start yelling at inanimate objects, like sheets of paper, it's usually a sign to take a break at whatever it is you're doing." she giggled as she came in closing the door behind her.

Kenta sighed shaking his head, "Maybe you're right, it's just so damn frustrating." he said before looking at her, "How'd you know I'd be here anyway, I'm normally out on a run at this time?"

Sayaka giggled, "It wasn't that difficult, I ran into Naruto-Nii on the way here, said he had to get out of the apartments to give his ears a break from your yelling. Not hard to work out one of your projects was driving you mental again." she said before looking down at the array, "Is this a new one?"

Kenta sighed shaking his head, "No, it's the same disruption array idea I had back in the academy, I still can't get the damn thing to work."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow at that, "Really, it looks different since the last time I saw you working on it, would have thought after four years you'd have it solved and working by now." she said as she knelt down and tried to follow the connecting arrays, "What's with the new array lay out? More connecting arrays?"

Kenta shook his head, "I'm close but it's still being a headache." He said as he knelt down beside her, "Yeah, it's to allow the flow of chakra in the array to reach out to the other farther arrays in the circuit." he said as he pointed his finger at the centre of the array and helped her trace one of paths to the outer ring of the array, "The stable number set in Fūinjutsu and Barrier Jutsu all starts from the fourth form for stability purposes, and for complete stability the distribution stays even among all the arrays so the easiest way is to double up each time, that was the mistake I made back when I first started off I had an odd number of arrays the balance was off and there was no stability in the fourths so I had problems from the start. This new array is following the fourth form rule it starts at the centre a strong four form base and then another four around the base for strength and to give connections to the next form in the series, and then the array is doubled into eight that circle the inner eight for sixteen arrays in the first two segments, that's four and four and eight on the inner and a sixteen ring on the outside that makes for a thirty-two pillar support on the entire thing." he said as they traced the line to the outer ring before Kenta stood up, "But no matter what I do the disruption rate is still as slow as a four pillar support and by the time it reaches the second array there is too much strain and one of the connecting to the sixteen pillar array breaks, it just doesn't have enough push to get it there any faster to shorten the strain on the connecting arrays."

Sayaka frowned as she stood up, while she didn't know as much about Fūinjutsu as Kenta did as it was one of his specialties that he seemed to have an affinity for, she tried to think what the problem was, "Have you thought about maybe adding some inter connecting arrays between the connecting points for longer stability?" she recommended, "The increase in the connections could…" she started but stopped when Kenta shook his head.

"No." he said shaking his head slightly, "I already thought of that in a previous attempt, it only bought a couple of seconds at most, before the array failed again, the more arrays I add only added to the power being pulled from the inner arrays and pulling more power means that the disruption will take even longer at the source and if it's even slower than the strain on the connecting arrays lasts even longer."

Sayaka shook her head understanding why Kenta was having such a hard time with the array now, she'd never had much of an affinity for the intricate art, sure she knew enough from what Kenta had caught her over the years but she was by no means a master of it, the mathematical knowledge required for the techniques and the understanding behind the different ink mixtures that was required for the unique sealing techniques and the multitude of arrays and their different purposes, were so vast she knew she could never memorise them all, let alone being to understand the intricate working in how to design unique arrays like Kenta had done in the past, she had just settled for knowing that they both had their unique specialties in their chosen fields.

Looking back at the array she frowned, while Kenta had it all laid out and she could follow it. Many of the internal arrays that were in the main components were so complex, she knew they were years beyond her, the only ones she understood were the ones at the centre of it all, the main chakra power arrays that were designed to power the other arrays to disrupt and displace external chakra sources, the four arrays in the centre were the foundation of the rest of the array as Kenta had already explained, four was the number needed to keep the rest of the array steady and to give it a firm grounding, shaking her head it was so far beyond her she didn't know how Kenta could even keep all this knowledge in his head.

"If only you could increase the power source for the arrays, if there was more power then there would be more push to get the outer arrays working to complete and hold the disruption." Sayaka said as she looked down at the arrays.

Kenta paused for a moment as his mind ran a mile a minute after hearing Sayaka's words, _'more power…'_ his eyes widened, _'more power'_ , "That's it!" he said a little louder than he meant to before he quickly rushed over to his desk scrambling for his inks and his paper pads.

Sayaka and Midnight both jumped at the small yell from Kenta and watched as he rushed to his desk both looked to each other and shrugged before looking back to Kenta as Sayaka walked over to him, "What's it?" she asked as she approached him.

"More power, you're right," Kenta exclaimed as he pulled out a paper pad from his table drawer and three jars of ink and brushes as he started to work on more designs, "I've been so focused on trying to make sure the connections were flawless and it was grounded properly, it completely went over my head the drain each of the arrays would expand on the internal chakra arrays." he said as he moved the brush fluidly across the pad as he worked, "The number of the arrays is so large that the four pillar base can't possibly supply enough chakra to reach them all and maintain them until they become self-sufficient to run on their own. It was like expecting any shinobi to try and pull off a high-powered Jutsu with only the reserve levels of an academy student, without enough chakra the Jutsu will fail. I can't believe I over looked it." he said as he finished his new array, before opening up one of his desk drawers and pulling out a number of already pre made arrays.

Sayaka peered over his shoulder as she looked at the array that he had drawn and for a second she didn't think there was any difference between it and the central array already in place, but then she noticed the smaller marking with in the array, and noticed it was by far more complex than a standard array. But it was what was on the outside of the internal arrays before the connecting points, and the pre-made arrays that had her eyes widening more, "Are those transmission arrays?" she asked looking at them.

Kenta quickly tore the sheet of paper from the pad and moved carefully to the array on the ground and replaced the centre sheet with the new one lining up the lines so that they over crossed to allow the chakra to flow, before he started to move around the array placing the transmission arrays, "Yes, they are part of the plan, plus a precautionary safety measure in case the chakra is too much for the array, they will bleed some of it off out of the array so that there isn't a discharge that burns the rest of the arrays up. I've never used this many as a foundation before in any array, I'm not sure how it will react."

Sayaka gulped, "Why how many are you using?" she asked not sure she wanted to know the answer, messing with chakra arrays was like messing with the arrays of an explosion tag if you messed them up things tended to blow up in a big way.

Kenta smirked nervously as he stepped back, "Well, I had to keep everything in the standards of four so that the array wouldn't need to be tweaked and completely reworked to account for the change in the foundation arrays, and I needed to make sure there was enough chakra so that the arrays would function properly till they run themselves and have enough strength to disrupt as much chakra as possible as fast as possible. So I reworked each of the individual chakra arrays to be a four pillar foundation all on their own, so four by four, which means…" Kenta spoke and left it hanging.

Sayaka's eye's widened, "Sixteen! That array has a sixteen-pillar foundation and chakra base, that's literally four times the power the original had. Don't you think that's a bit much?"

Kenta chuckled slightly, "Maybe a little but in the long run its small time for what I'm planning for the final outcome." he said as he looked to Sayaka with a mischievous glint in his eye, "If a sixteen pillar foundation packs a punch, what would a sixty four pillar core pack?"

If Sayaka's eyes were wide before they were almost bulging out of their sockets now, "Sixty four, you're planning to duplicate the array over four times over. Why, why would you do that? Sixteen cores is already going to be over kill for this, why would you need more power?"

Kenta smirked, "To disperse more chakra and faster than before. Think about it. If I wanted to use this array on a barrier to get through it… a single point breach isn't going to cut it, it wouldn't open up a large enough window for me to get through, but if I used four arrays, all of which were connected…"

Sayaka's mouth gaped looking at him, "You could open up a larger breach four times as fast and hold it for four times as longer than you could with one." she said as she started to understand where Kenta was going with his plan.

Kenta nodded, "Precisely." he said before looking back to the array.

Sayaka paused for a moment as she tried to think of the numbers involved in the arrays, "Wait a minute if this single array has a sixteen pillar core foundation with a further twenty-eight disruption seals, with a further three transmission arrays, that's a forty-seven point array."

Kenta nodded, "Precisely, and when it's used in unison with three other arrays of the same count that will round up to a hundred and eighty-eight arrays." Kenta stated with a proud smile at his creation, "Now the only thing left to do is to test to see if the sixteen pillar core can power all the arrays." he said as he raised his hands into the ram hand sign before looking to Sayaka, "You ready?"

Sayaka gulped, "Um shouldn't we be behind something in case the array can't handle the chakra and decides to blow up on us?"

Kenta gave a half shrug, "Not really, most explosive tags only run on two arrays of chakra, this array has eight times that, if it does go boom, there won't be an apartment block left, let alone any thing we're shielding ourselves with." he replied causally.

Sayaka gulped, "Way to make a girl feel safe."

Kenta shrugged again, "We're shinobi now, we're going to be facing danger every day, didn't think you'd be scared so easily." he said with a smirk.

Giving Kenta a glare she punched him mildly in the shoulder in annoyance, "Hey I'm not scared, and just because we're going to be facing danger on missions doesn't mean I want to end my career early by being blown up before I can even go on my first mission." she said as she continued to glare at him her anger ebbing slightly.

Kenta chuckled, "Well too late to turn back now, ready or not." he said as he looked back to the array on the floor, as Sayaka's eye widened and she turned and covered her head as Kenta channelled chakra and spoke "Hai!"

At the activation command the central arrays chakra arrays of the larger array lit up and the next second the chakra was channelled through the connecting lines before the entire intricate array shown a bright blue.

Kenta's eyes widened seeing the positive reaction as the array held, the light confirming that the array was functioning perfectly and that there were no further problems.

After a couple of second of no explosions, Sayaka turned around to gaze into the light that was coming from the large array and she smiled before looking to Kenta seeing an equally happy smile on his face, his project of four years was finally finished.

With a pleased nod, Kenta channelled his chakra once more as he spoke, "Kai!" as the glow from the ruins faded before he started to run through several hand signs before he spoke again, "Fūin!" as the inked markings responded a second time only this time they began to shrink and recede, following each other as they seemed to move from page to page back to the central page as the middle arrays warped along with them, the ink soaking onto the page as the sealing process drew nearer to completion as the array took on its final form before glowing a faint red before fading back to black.

Releasing his hand sign Kenta moved forward and picked up the middle sheet with the complete compressed form of his chakra disruption array on it, its final sealed form resembling that of a tapered line that twisted into a curve at the end with a slight bend at the thicker end.

Checking there was no damage to the sheet or the final array Kenta smiled proudly at it, as Sayaka came over to him looking at the design, "So, is that it?" she asked, "It's finally done?"

Kenta nodded, "Yep, now all that's needed is for it to be tested in the field to make sure it works properly."

Sayaka smirked, "Well I'm sure you'll be able to arrange a test for it eventually, and I'm sure it'll work just as you've planned it to. Kami knows it's got more than enough power behind it, but you'd better put it somewhere safe so that no one else can get their hands on it before you do."

Kenta nodded, "No need to tell me twice." he said as he rolled the sheet of paper up and moved to his desk, pulling out the lower desk drawer revealing the small cast iron safe with in, biting his thumb he pressed his blood to the sealing array on the front of the door, the array hissed before the door clicked open and he gripped the handle opening the lid fully before placing the rolled up sheet into it next to a number of other scrolls and notes before he closed it once more and the blood seal reset glowing white before fading to black as the locks reset and sealed the safe as he closed the drawer, "There all locked up."

Sayaka smiled, "Good, now that you're finished how about getting ready, we have our first mission in half an hour or did you get so sucked up into your project that you forgot about it? We're meant to be meeting Anko-sensei at the tower to get our first mission."

Kenta shook his head, "No I didn't forget Sayaka-chan, I'm just not seeing it as that big a deal, it isn't like we're getting a high priority mission on our first day." he explained as he started to gather up the now blank sheets of paper that were on the ground, "Sarutobi-sensei told me that fresh out of the academy Genin are given D-rank missions to test them and build up their experience. Missions of that rank are nothing more than glorified public chores like weeding, dog walking, street cleaning, public service stuff, and the really bad part is that every Genin team has to do at least thirty missions of that rank before they can qualify for the higher ranked stuff." he said as he stood up with a thick stack of papers in his hand, "So forgive me if I'm not that anxious to get started early on our month of public chores. I don't know why those kind of missions aren't given to us as final year academy students to prepare us before we get out of the academy, seems like a waste of a month if you ask me." he said setting the sheets on his desk.

Sayaka sighed, "Yeah you're probably right, but everyone's got to start somewhere, and hopefully if we get there early, we won't get one of the crappy missions, I heard from Kaa-chan that there's supposedly this demon cat that's a plague on all the Genin teams because it keeps running away and they have to catch it."

Kenta gave an amused scoff, "I'd actually hope for that one. Me and Midnight would scare that thing so bad that it'd never run away again, ain't that right Midnight?" he called to his partner.

Midnight gave a bark in reply and agreement with his master, hoping they did get that mission now.

Sayaka giggled, "Yeah you're probably right, Anko-sensei would probably skin the poor thing and make boot liner out of it, and a pair of mitten to go along with them if we got that mission." she said as she lifted Kenta's flak jacket from his bed tossing it to him, "Now hurry up and get dressed we've got a mission to go and start."

Kenta chuckled, "Ok, just give me a minute, I need to get on my proper kit, so can you step outside while I get dressed," he said before giving her a teasing smirk as he channelled his inner Anko for a bit of fun, "or not, I don't mind." he said giving Sayaka a grin as she blushed a shade of red that would make Hinata jealous before she made a beeline out of the front door leaving a chucking Kenta to get dressed.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Ten minutes later Sayaka, Kenta with Midnight between them were walking up to the Hokage tower, Kenta still chuckling slightly while Sayaka pouted with her arms crossed.

"I can't believe you said that." she shook her head in a disbelieving tone.

Kenta chuckled, "And I can't believe you can actually turn that shade of red."

Sayaka growled in response, "I did not turn red!" she snapped in annoyance and embarrassment.

Kenta put up his hands in a take it easy gesture, "Alright-alright, whatever you say." he said in a mollified tone before smirking playfully, "It was more of a beat root colour actually, now that I think about it." he added before ducking at Sayaka swiped for the back of his head as they reached the tower yard entrance as Anko stepped around the corner seeing the pair and smirked seeing the action.

"Well good morning my cute little Genin," she said in a sing song tone, "care to share what's got you trying to give Kenta a smack this morning Sayaka? Not normally something we see, must have done something to really get your panties in a twist."

Sayaka huffed crossing her arms looking away, "Just being an even bigger idiot than usual."

Anko raised an eyebrow and looked to Kenta who was chuckling, "Care to explain?" she asked interested now.

Kenta shrugged, "Sayaka stopped by my apparent this morning and helped me out with my Fūinjutsu project, that's ready for testing now thanks to her giving me the idea to fix its problem, after she told me to get dressed cause we only had half an hour to get here for our mission, I may or may not have suggested she step out of the apparent unless she wanted to say for a free show of me changing, and she may or may not have blushed a shade of red resembling a beat root before legging it out my front door." he explained trying not to chuckle from the memory.

Sayaka was fighting back a blush from the memory as Anko nodded sagely, before shrugging, "So I was close," she said looking to Sayaka, "your panties aren't twisted, they're just damp."

Sayaka's eyes widened at Anko's bluntness, "Anko-sensei!" she cried out in embarrassment as even Kenta had the decency to look away trying not to show his own embarrassment Anko's bluntness, that he should have expected.

Anko shook her head chuckling before ending in a smirk, "Alright then, Genin thoroughly embarrassed, check. Now let's get to what we're going to be doing today, follow me." she said before turning and heading back into the tower yard, both Genin following her neither meeting the eyes of the other still embarrassed, with Midnight following behind now.

Coming up to the side of the steps of the entrance into the tower Anko turned to address the pair, "Alright, Genin and mutt," ***insert Midnight's growl here*** , "I suppose you both already know what fate awaits all new Genin teams when they start their missions, the dreaded wave of D-rank missions, or as I like to call them, the dumbass ranked missions, so simple any dumbass Genin can do them."

Both Sayaka and Kenta smirked at the comment before Anko cleared her throat to continue, "now normally we'd be heading into the tower, and if we were a normal Genin team we'd be taking the standard dumbass ranked missions, and work at a snail's pace for the next month doing a single mission a day until we reached the thirty mission quota by the end of the month, before we can finally start on the C-rank missions, or again as I like to call them, the Crappy paying missions. Most Genin only think they're good cause the pay increase it about ten times that of the dumbass ranked ones, trust me it's not all that good." she said before smirking, "But as I said that would be if we were a normal Genin team, and there's nothing normal about this team in the slightest," she said with a proud looking smirk, "and it just hit me this morning how, with this teams skills, we are going to be the best team mission wise there is and leave the other teams in the dust with our mission completion rate."

Kenta crossed his arms, "Oh and how do you figure that when there's less of us than there are of them, some missions would take the same length of time regardless of how skilled we are, some ones can't be rushed."

Sayaka nodded in agreement, "Yeah, plus I don't really see the point in doing any more than the necessary amount of the D-ranks till we can pass to do the serious missions."

Anko nodded, "And normally I would as well, except given that we're down one team member we need to prove that we can pull our weight even more than the other teams, so we're going to take this first month and do as many of the dumbass missions as we can, while at the same time you'll be taking specialised training sessions with me, and to accomplish this, we'll be using Kenta here as our secret weapon."

Kenta blinked, "Me? How am I a secret weapon? I'm good but…" he started to say only to stop as Anko gave him an "are you serious" stare, "Um what am I missing here?"

Anko sighed shaking her head, "I swear, sometimes you can be so smart, and other times I swear that mutt of yours has more brains than you" ***insert Midnight's bark here*** , "do I have to spell it out for you, with the size of your chakra reserves and the sear number of Kage Bunshin you can make…"

Kenta blinked, "You want to use my Kage Bunshins to do the missions for us!?" he said in realisation before slapping his forehead, "Why the hell didn't I think of that?" ***up in the Hokage's office Hiruzen looked up from his little orange book, "I know exactly how you feel"***

Anko laughed, "Now, you're getting it. each day while they're out there doing the missions bringing in the cash and boosting our mission numbers, you two will be in special training for the rest of the month that I arranged last night when this idea came to me, and the first lesson is set up to start in twenty minutes, so," she said as she took out a scroll from her pocket and tossed it to Kenta, "there are fifty Dumbass missions in there, make with the Kage Bunshin so we can get going already."

Kenta smirked as he turned and took a few steps away, "No problem." he said before raising his hands into the cross hand sign before calling out, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"** before he was engulfed in smoke followed by the rest of the area in front of him, only for it to fade seconds later revealing a veritable army of Kenta's standing in front of them.

"Alright!" Kenta called out to them all, "Line up in squads of three to receive your missions." he called out as all the Bunshins started moving and forming teams as they lined up in them, once they were ready Kenta tossed the scroll to one of them, "Hand them out, one per squad, any squads without are to report to the usual training area and start working on chakra control exercises and disperse at the usual time." Kenta said before turning back to a smirking Anko and grinning Sayaka.

"Alright now that that's done," Anko said before looking to Midnight, "you can go with one of the Bunshin groups mutt, the type of training we're going to be doing isn't for animals."

Midnight whined in sadness at being dismissed and looked to his master to say differently but Kenta shook his head, "Sorry buddy, Anko's orders," he said as he kneeled down and scratched the large dog behind the ear, "Why don't you go and see if one of the teams got that demon cat mission, maybe hunting down the fur ball will make for a fun day, alright, just try not to scare it to much the first time, I want to help the next," he suggested getting a bark of approval for his partner before he trotted off to the teams.

Anko nodded, "Alright come on then you two, we're burning daylight," she said as they headed towards one of the other exits to the compound to where ever it was they were going.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was another twenty or so minutes of walking before the trio stopped at their destination, a large building that was built in a clearing away from the rest of the structures.

Looking up Sayaka and Kenta couldn't help but be intimidated by its size, its cold metallic grey paint giving off a cold feel to the building, and the only entrance was a metal door with a slot cover peep hole.

Walking up to the door Anko knocked on the door in a rhythmic sequence that both Genin realised was a security knock and instantly committed it to memory in case they needed it in the future.

Seconds later the slot opened and a set of squinting eyes looked out at them for a split second before the slot closed up again and the sound of several locking mechanisms being released could be heard before the door opened with a click. Swinging open to reveal a man dressed in the standard Chūnin uniform with squinted eyes and a small pointed goatee.

"Morning Anko," the Chūnin said giving a small smirk, "getting to work early today as usual I see."

Anko smirked back, "You know it Ranka, gotta give these two their first lessons," she said gesturing to Sayaka and Kenta over her shoulder, "I see Ibiki's got you on door duty again," she smirked, "What'd you do to piss him off this time?"

Ranka shrugged, "Got me, sometimes I think he's trying out a new form of psychological torture, boring me to death," he smirked stepping out of the way to let the three inside before closing the door behind them.

The three of them walked down a narrow corridor for several meters before coming to a room with a few chairs and a table, as they entered Kenta took note of the interior, plain and with very little colour anywhere, at the other side there was a large door that lead to a hallway with many other doors and stairs up and down at the far end. Coming to a halt Anko turned to face them a serious look on her face.

"Alright you two this is where shit gets real." she said sounding more serious than either had heard her before.

Sayaka gulped, "Anko-sensei what is this place?" she asked a little concerned.

Anko held her arms out gesturing around them, "This my little Genin is one of the multiple branch offices of the Torture and Intelligence gathering department with in Konoha, well one of the lesser known ones at least." she said lowering her hands.

Kenta blinked hearing that as he looked around, Anko had taken him to a large building she had said was the T&I office before back about a month into his training, it had been where he'd met some of the people Anko had worked with, and now he couldn't help but shake his head suppressing a smirk, _'Of course they'd have more secure buildings, a building with the kanji "Konoha Intelligence division" stencilled above the entrance isn't exactly covert',_ "And just what are we doing here, Anko?" he asked as he looked back at her.

Anko smirked, "That's simple, follow me," she said turning again heading down the corridor on the other side of the room, "Today we're starting your more specialised training, that will be relevant on this team." she explained as they stopped at one of the doors and walked in.

The room was a small box room with a metal table in its centre, and a couple of chairs set around it, the table had heavy metal clasps bolted to it that looked to be for restraining whoever was set at the opposite side of the table, a few meters from the nearest wall with a one way glass mirror on it. There was also a range of various sharp implements on the far wall, each looked as painful as the last, ranging from sharp, long, needles, to curved blades and painful looking devices used to inflict maximum pain, both Genin couldn't help but feel a little green imagining what some of them were used for.

Clearing her throat Anko gestured to the two of them to take seats on two of the chairs away from the table, as they did as they were bid, she leaned on the table the serious look still on her face as she spoke.

"Alright I'm not going to sugar coat this, starting today I will be giving you two a three week crash course in interrogation and torture methodology," she said bluntly as both Genin's eyes widened hearing her, "and there is going to be plenty of opportunity for the both of you to get hands on in this, as it will be a learning experience in all manner of the word." she said as she watched both her Genin's reactions to this, seeing their faces pail slightly she continued.

"Now I can understand that you are reluctant to the idea and I don't blame either of you for that, I blame that more to the academy's teachings," she said with a grimace, "most Genin that come out of the academy green around the gills and it's usually much later in their careers, before they choose or are placed into a specific division with in the village, most Genin teams are made with specific purposes in mind, as I'm sure you've worked that out." she explained as both Genin nodded, "These teams are to help train Genin to get used to working as a unit when they are assigned their divisions, usually when they reach Chūnin or Tokubetsu Jōnin." she explained, "That is if they survive that long, and most don't because they freeze up at their first enemy encounter or the first time they injure another person enough to draw blood." she said watching both of them with careful eyes as she watched the emotions play across their faces, she couldn't exactly blame them for their reluctance as most don't have the mindset for torture, that generally came with time, but she was doing this for a reason, one they needed to know, "I need to know that neither of you two is going to lose it out there on the field and freeze up because it's shit like that, that will get people killed. Losing your lunch over something gruesome and foul is one thing, and trust me it's guaranteed to happen cause it does even to the best of us, but freezing up like a little shit when there are enemies around cannot happen out there."

Both Sayaka and Kenta sat in silence as Anko talked, both feeling unsure about the lessons they were going to get, neither was anxious to inflict pain on others to get information from them, both for different reasons.

Anko crossed her arms over her chest as she shook her head, "Look, I know that you both can hold your own in a fight, heck I've fought you, Kenta more times than I can count in your training, I know how good you are and that's a fact. I know you can get your hands dirty when you need to, but I need to know how far you are actually willing to go and I need to know that before our first C-rank mission cause I can guarantee that unless you're willing to go all the way, you aren't going to be able to cut it out in the real world."

The three sat in silence as Anko finished, the cold, harsh, reality of her words setting in on just what it meant to be a shinobi, she didn't have to say it for both of them to know what she meant by going all the way, they'd have to be willing to take the life of another at a moment's notice on a mission if that's what was required of them, they'd have to be able to torture, and inflict pain to get information they needed in order to complete their objective, to put their feelings and morality aside in order to complete their missions. This was what it meant to be a shinobi, the mission came first.

Sayaka swallowed before speaking, "Will we be doing it often?" she asked getting a raised eyebrow from Anko like it was a stupid question, "Torture I mean, I understand that taking lives is part of being a shinobi, I knew that starting the academy and taking a life is one thing, but all my life I've wanted to be an Iryō-Nin, hurting people in combat and taking lives is one thing, but torturing, inflicting pain to get information…" she said not sure how to continue.

Anko took a deep breath and exhaled nodding, "I see, I had anticipated this but to be honest I don't exactly know the answer for you. Our team's specialities fall under two categories, assault and intelligence gathering. This team was designed around those to objectives, and you were placed on this team for because of your skills as an Iryō-Nin." she explained as Sayaka looked to her in her own confusion, "While this team's primary purpose will be as an assault team, as that is what the village needs mostly. Interrogation will be part of our skill set and will be applied when necessary, we won't go looking for it but when it does come up you will be trained for it." Anko said before looking at Sayaka with a reassuring smile, "Both of you will have your roles to play in interrogations. While you both will be taking these lessons on the field, the only ones actually doing any torturing will be me or Kenta depending on the circumstances. Your job Sayaka will be as the attending Iryō-Nin, same as the three currently on call on this floor, to treat the subject after the interrogation or should the session be pushed to the extreme keep them alive long enough for us to get all the information, you will not be getting hands on in the sessions unless you want to." Anko explained as Sayaka nodded in understanding, "But given that we may be doing interrogations on the field, I wanted you in the room to witness the sessions seeing as you won't exactly have the option of stepping out of the room on a field interrogation, it will help you prepare for the inevitable."

Sayaka nodded knowing that Anko was right and feeling slightly better knowing that she wouldn't be risking breaking the oath she as an Iryō-Nin to cause unnecessary harm when she first started volunteering at the hospital treating injured shinobi, something not many academy students did.

Both Sayaka and Anko looked to Kenta to see his reaction to hearing that he'd be the second interrogator on the team, and were a little worried by what they say. As Kenta sat with his head lowered his hair shading his eyes, neither sure what to make of him, as he slowly reached to his right shoulder gripping it slightly, both Kunoichi looked at him eyes filled with concern and worry.

"Kenta-Kun." Sayaka spoke slightly gently to him.

After several second Kenta spoke in a low voice, "It will serve a purpose, and will not be undeserved." he said making both Kunoichi look at him in confusion as Kenta sat back with a sigh, "The torture will have a purpose and won't be pointless, just for the purpose of inflicting pain, and it's not like those we actually torture won't deserve it. They'll be bandits, enemy shinobi, criminals, they'd have earned the pain we inflict." he said as both Kunoichi seemed to get what he was saying.

Anko nodded, "Yes they would, we're not in the business of interrogating and torturing little old ladies here, anyone we put the screws to won't be innocent."

Kenta nodded in response, "Then I'm fine with it." he said in a tone of finality as Anko nodded back to him as she pushed herself up from the desk.

"Good, cause like I said before we came here, I've scheduled multiple sessions for you both over the next three weeks, Kenta you'll be with me in the interrogations while Sayaka your time will be split fifty-fifty between the interrogation rooms and shadowing the on call Iryō-Nins on the same floor as us when they have to treat the scum being interrogated. So you'll get used to the different types of damage you might have to treat on the field. Now you two wait right here and I'll be back with the subject of your first lesson, I picked a real peach of a guy for your first session." Anko smirked heading to the door, walking out with a final "This should be fun." before closing the door leaving the two Genin alone in the room to their thoughts and each other.

Sayaka glanced at Kenta still worried, "Kenta-Kun, are you sure you'll be…" she started to ask but stopped when Kenta shook his head.

"I'll be fine Sayaka-chan," Kenta said trying to keep himself calm, "I should have figured this would be part of our training when Anko was assigned as our sensei, she's been in the T&I department since before I met her, I should have realised that we'd be given lessons like these." Kenta reasoned swallowing slightly, "While I may not like the idea of inflicting pain on someone, as long as it serves a purpose I'll be fine, if it was inflicting pain for pains sake then I might have had a problem but I'll be fine."

Sayaka nodded slightly still not sure what to make of Kenta, while she had known him now for over six years and spent nearly every day with him since the massacre of her clan at her brothers hand, there were still secrets that he kept from her, mostly it was only small things, like where in his apartment he hid his Pocky stash which she still hadn't found in all these years, but the one that stood out the most was where he got his scars from, or rather, one in particular. The one on his right shoulder that seemed to cause him pain at times judging by how he gripped it, she had seen it only a few times over the years and one thing was clear it wasn't a simple cut that was healed poorly, it had been a serious injury where he had been stabbed because there was a mirroring scar on the back of his shoulder as well from where whatever it had been that had stabbed him had either entered or exited. She had tried to ask Naruto about it in the past but he had refused to talk about it, commenting only that it was a painful memory for the both of them asking her not to ask about it again, and so she hadn't, but she still held hope that one day that he might tell her just what had happened.

* * *

 *****Reader digression is advices from this point on*****

 *****Mild torture scene ahead*****

* * *

The pair sat in relative silence for the next couple of minutes before the door of the interrogation room opened again and Anko came back in, carrying a slim brown folder, followed by two other interrogators both pulling and shoving along a third man who the pair assumed was the one they'd be interrogating.

He had a hood over his head so they couldn't see his face, they realised it would make the man more compliant given he couldn't see where he was, and Kenta marked it as a strategic power play move designed to give them more control over the prisoner, on top of his hands being bound and being out numbered the man had no other options left but to do as he was told, though the guy apparently didn't realise this as he was still resisting the interrogators as they manhandled him into the seat before undoing his hand bindings and bound him to the desk before ripping his hood off, that was when Kenta got his first look at the man he'd be assisting in interrogating.

He was a dark-skinned man with mid length messy black hair, a scraggly looking black goatee, and a jagged X-shaped scar above his right eye, which was blackened and partly swollen due to what Kenta assumed had been either a previous interrogation session or his own stupidity from giving one of the guards or fellow prisoners lip and getting his comeuppance, same thing with his split bottom lip, that had clearly been the result of a back hand from someone.

With the man now secured the two interrogators left the room leaving an eager grinning Anko and the two Genin alone with their subject to have at it, which Anko did.

"Alright I believe some introductions are in order for this first of our hopefully many little meet and greets." Anko said with a smirk, before she opened the folder she had in her hand and started reading the contents out, "Name of scum bag, Higuma, no last name known, age unimportant, land of origins, Kumogakure, accused crimes: assault, theft, murder, kidnapping, rape, selling of slaves and illegal contraband, known to be affiliated with a slaver ring that has crossed the borders into the fire nation in recent months," she finished as she closed the folder before tossing it to the side not caring where it landed as she smirked at the man, Higuma, "Oh goodie I love it when I get to work on your type, I'm going to enjoy this, and you couldn't have come at a better time, you see these two." she said gesturing to Kenta and Sayaka, "Well they're both here to watch and learn how an interrogation session is carried out by yours truly, and I'm going to enjoy showing them all the different interrogations methods I know, with you as my lovely little demonstration dummy." she said her grin turning sadistic as she looked at him glaring at her, "Now for today I'll be focusing mainly on your hands as, take notes you two, is one of the areas on the body with the highest number of pain receptors thus where the most pain can be inflicted with very little effort, not to say there aren't other fun way and places to inflict pain, the top five most effective being the hands, lips, tongue, feet and of course the genitals, but for today we're focusing on the hands, won't this be fun." she grinned, "I just hope you can last long enough for me to give my two cute Genin here a detailed lesson on just how many ways there are to torture just the hands, cause I can assure you there are a lot." she said before walking past the table and over to the wall to browse the tools for a moment.

Higuma spat at her growling, "Do your worst bitch, I'm not telling you shit! You and your two little shits here can fuck off, you hear me!" he spat at her.

Smirk still in place Anko turned having chosen her tool, a pair of, cast iron, curved pliers, "Oh goodie, I was hoping you'd say that. First lesson then." she said before moving at a speed that Higuma couldn't react to before he found his head pushed back and a strap across his forehead keeping his head back, seconds before he felt Anko pinning his hand to the table his fingers stretched out, and he heard Anko continue talking, "Lesson one, while it might be tempting to start breaking fingers and cutting bits off the more subtle ways are the best and leave a lasting impression. For example targeting where there are the most nerve endings will cause the greatest pain, and on the hands that's one of two places, the finger tips, or the eponychium, which can most easily targeted by the simple act of the pulling of a finger nail," she said as she took the pliers and used them to grip Higuma's over grown fingernail before she pulled and twisted as she pried the finger nail from its place painfully at the same time as extracting a painful yell from Higuma as he felt the pain rip through him.

Both Sayaka and Kenta did their best not to wince at the scene, as well as not to think about what pain Higuma must have been feeling, but both hardened their resolves as the list of charges the man had no doubt committed still rang in their ears, this was nothing compared to what he put his victims through and he deserved every bit of it.

"Ahhhhh, fuck you bitch!" Higuma yelled as he felt the pain being to ebb and his finger throbbing painfully as his nail bed bled after having his nail pulled and twisted out.

Anko for her part was ignoring him as she examined the finger nail still in the pliers before she just tossed it away, "Awe quit your whining, it wasn't that bad, and look just nine more to go, before we can get started on the next juicy little part, there are so many after all." she grinned.

Higuma paled slightly, "What the fuck is wrong with you, you haven't even asked me any fucking questions yet!"

Anko paused before laughing to herself, "I guess I haven't, have I?" she laughed before looking to the one-way mirror and waving, "Sorry about that Mozuku, I'll remember this time, got a little caught up on the lesson." she laughed.

It was then that the two Genin looked at the mirror and realised that there had been someone inside it the whole time watching, both had been grateful now that they hadn't said much while Anko was away that whoever was in there could have overheard.

Anko quickly turned back to Higuma, "Now let's see what were those questions again… ah yes," she said before as fast as the last time she pinned Higuma's other hand gripping the same finger nail on the opposite hand and repeated the process of pulling and twisting and she pulled the nail and another scream from the slaver free, before she turned to Kenta and Sayaka holding up the finger nail to them, "You see the way it's twisting, that's because of all my twisting, I'm not only pulling it from the root, I'm also using the nail to hurt the nerves in the nail bed itself, just a little trick I picked up," she said before tossing the nail away.

"Ahhhhh, you twisted bitch!" Higuma roared in pain as both his arms shook from the experience.

Anko just ignored him, "There now that we're all even let's get to the questions." she said as she sat on the edge of the table as she twirled the pliers in her hand, "You see we're already aware of your little slave ring that has moved into our lands, we know you're group's supplies slaves on demand for your clients, which you get from the small villages you attack and the settlements you pillage, where you kill off the men before raping the women and killing them too, it's only the children you take to sell, children as young as nine or less, with their families gone, sold into slavery to all sorts of places, brothels, work houses, even to serve as slaves and servants to some high paying folk who use them and then throw them away when they're done, never alive of course and only after they've put them through years of hell."

Hearing this both Sayaka and Kenta were both incensed and disgusted beyond all matter of the words looking at what they now knew to be a monster before them, all form of pity stricken from their faces, replaced with ice cold glares as Anko continued.

"Now, what you're going to do, is that you're going to spill every little bit of information you know about your little group, names of your little friends, locations of all your bases, clients who buy from you, potential buyers, the whole operation, and the sooner you start talking the sooner the pain stops," Anko said as she started to look at her own nails, "you see the actually reason I torture first ask questions later wasn't for my students benefit as it was yours, I wanted to give you a preview of just what is to come, I find it loosens lips quicker when a person has a taste of what they will get if they don't talk" she said before stopping and looking to Higuma and narrowing her eyes, "and yet I still don't hear you talking, perhaps I wasn't clear." she said before she slammed the pliers down on Higuma's hand making him yell out as he flexed his hand in pain before his middle finger was grabbed and Anko pulled yet another of his nails as Higuma's cries doubled from the pain.

"Ahhhhh, you fucking whore, fuck, Ahhhhh, you can keep doing that all fucking day cause I'm not talking, you think this is going to break me, ha, I've had worse fucking paper cuts than this bitch. If this is your best, you may as well let one of your fucking brats try," Higuma spat at Anko only to be on the receiving end of a back hand from Anko pliers still in hand.

"That's not the kind of talking I was thinking of," Anko said as she stood up and smirked, "but then again perhaps you're right, I have been hogging all the fun." she said before turning to Kenta and Sayaka and held out the pliers to Kenta, "How about it, want to take a crack at this egg see if you can make him crack?"

Kenta paused for a moment and looked at Anko seeing the seriousness in her eyes, she may have been putting on a show and having a little bit of fun, but she meant what she said. With a nod Kenta rose from his seat and stepped forward taking the pliers from Anko as she stepped back to beside Sayaka and watched as Kenta stepped forward again, looking at the pliers and then to Higuma glaring at him, and Higuma glaring back.

Looking back to the pliers Kenta paused for a moment as the reality of what he was about to do set in, _'Am I capable of this? Torturing another human being, is there really a difference between this and…'_ he started to think but was pulled out of his thoughts when something wet hit his face and the feeling made him snap back to the present, his hand went to his face cheek as he realised what had happened, this bastard had just spat at him and was now laughing at him.

"You think I'm going to break for you, like hell I'm going to break to some snot nosed little fuck who probably hasn't even seen his first pair of tits yet." Higuma laughed.

Kenta felt his rage boil inside as he glared at the bastard and it settled in him as it answered his unfinished thoughts for him as he strode forward to Higuma's right using the pliers he gripped the thickest joint of the man's pinkie finger reversing his grip on the pliers before he twisted them towards Higuma as a sickening pop and crack filled the room followed by the loudest yells from Higuma yet as Kenta completely dislocated and broke his pinkie finger and knuckle.

Both Sayaka and Anko winced before Anko started applauding, "Very nice, not bad for an opener, and you put enough force on it to break it not just dislocated it. I give it a seven for result but a five for method and presentation, if you had drawn it out more you could have increased the overall pain, but that's the good thing about hands, there's always the opposite digit for you to try and improve your technique, why don't you even his other hand up the same way." she said gesturing to the other pinkie.

Kenta nodded and moved to the other side of Higuma and got his other pinkie in the same grip as the last and started to twist, this time following Anko's advice and applying the same constant slow pressure as Higuma's yelling increased as his pain went up for several slow and very painful second before a second pop and crack sounded followed by more of Higuma's yells.

Anko started laughing, "Oh yes that's definitely a ten." she said as she walked closed inspecting both of the man's mangled and broken pinkies, "Very nice, extra credit marks for creative thinking and good symmetry, I might just learn a thing or two myself" she grinned as she took the pliers, "so what's it going to be jackass, you gonna talk or do I follow my students example and start working inwards, see if I can't improve on his technique, maybe break each joint separately what do you think?" she said as she took the farthest joint of Higuma's right ring finger in the pliers, but before she could start twisting he started to speak through his yells.

"I'll talk, I'll talk." Higuma cried out his whole body shaking.

Anko's smile fell to a pout, "Ah shit, he broke already, guess you aren't such a tough guy after all.", she said before shrugging and twisting hard and fast anyway as the screaming renewed again as a new wave of pain hit Higuma from having one of another joint in his hand broken.

"WHAT THE FUCK! WHY!" Higuma cried out as he tried to fight through the pain.

Anko shrugged, "Call it an incentive not to lie to us, now, start talking or I even things up, you know how I love symmetry." she said as she moved to his left tapping the table in front of Higuma's left hand with the pliers.

"A-Alright, the group, i-it started in Kiri, I-I only joined when it branched out in Kumo, but most of the guys are from Kiri, those who were on my team, we came from Kumo, at least we did till you shits killed them." Higuma spat out at Anko in hatred.

Anko shrugged, "I ain't going to shed a tear over some Kumo slave traders, keep talking unless you want to join them… minus a few extremities that is, I can think of the perfect one for a rapist to loose." she grinned sadistically.

Higuma tensed at the threat before continued, "I was part of a five man cell, I don't know how many cells there are but there's got to be over fifty of us with the scales the bosses are working at across the nations."

Anko raised an eyebrow, "And just who are these bosses of yours?" she asked with interest.

Higuma shook his head, "I don't know, I've never seen them they're supposed to be some high up sort with large bounties but they're always moving from one base to another, we have a number of them set up in the different nations to store those we take, mostly from Kiri above the others, with the war going on. There's plenty of orphans, no one notices or asks questions when a few go missing." he said with a smirk.

Kenta saw red hearing him before surging forward driving his fist into Higuma's jaw with enough force to know two teeth out and bust open his lip again, before Kenta had Higuma by the throat glaring into the bastards face, "Say that again, and I'll gladly show you what it's like to lose those fingers instead of breaking them." he threatened before releasing Higuma's throat before pulling out a kunai from his pouch with speed and stabbing it into the man's right hand making him cry out in pain as his hand was run through its centre, "Talk!" Kenta yelled as he twisted the kunai with vigour making Higuma cry out more, his voice unable to get any louder than it was, "Where are your bases in the fire nation, how many are there, talk!"

Hearing the Higuma's cries of pain made Sayaka unwillingly flinch but not in pity for the man, but in worry and shock at what she was seeing. Never had she seen this side of Kenta before, sure he could be a little sadistic when it came to training, but she had never seen him truly angry before, his anger was normally a silent rage in the moments before he beat down whoever it was that angered him like when they had first meet and he beat the boys who were insulting her and then insulted Naruto, or the multiple times in their academy years when Sasuke had tried to prove himself superior, Kenta would put up with it quietly for so long before shutting him up with a beating in Taijutsu practice, a silence that usually lasted through the rest of the day and the next before Sasuke was back to running his mouth, but she had never seen him lose his cool like this over some words, the orphan comment must have struck a nerve.

Anko watched on with a neutral expression, she had to admit to herself that she was impressed quite a bit with Kenta's brutality, but she had been at this game long enough to know what she was seeing, he was running on the adrenaline his anger was giving him and acting on instinct letting his anger control him, she made a mental note to confront him about it afterwards but decided to let him continue like this for now, anger normally got results, while it wasn't her preferred go to in interrogations it still worked, and she couldn't say the bastard on the receiving end didn't deserve it and all the pain that came with it.

"Alright!" Higuma cried as Kenta twisted the kunai again "I'll talk, I'll talk, we've got four bases in the land of fire, but I only know the locations of the two my group used," he said before crying out as Kenta twisted the kunai again, "we were never supposed to know where the others were or where to find them, it was set up that way so that if any of us ever got captured that none of us could give up the whole operation." he hurried to explain only to get another twist of the kunai in response.

Anko nodded as she heard his explanation, _'Smart bastards, compartmentalize the information that way there isn't a risk to the whole operation being blown by just one guy, it's a standard shinobi tactic used for long term assignments, even with two of their bases compromised they can still rebuild elsewhere and keep operations running, things just got interesting whoever these bosses are they're smarter than we thought,'_ she surmised to herself before she reached forward and took Kenta's shoulder, "That's enough." she spoke as she pulled Kenta back with enough force to let him know she was serious, he nodded and stepped back pulling the kunai from Higuma's hand as Anko stepped into his place, "You are going to give us the locations and guard numbers on both of the sites you know of, and every bit of that information had better be correct if not you'll find yourself back in here and next time we won't be so gentle." she threatened as Higuma nodded as best he could his head still restrained before Anko turned and gestured Kenta and Sayaka to the door out to the hall, they got the message and walked out followed by their sensei.

* * *

 *****Torture scene ends here*****

* * *

As the door shut to the interrogation room Kenta let out a pained breath before he spoke, "Anko, I'm…" he started to say only to be cut off by Anko.

"There's no need to apologise Kenta, I get it, I've been in this game long enough to recognise what I saw in there, you let your anger get the better of you, you let his words rile you up and then you hit him with your anger driving you forward on instinct." Anko explained as Kenta nodded slowly, Anko sighed, "I've seen it done before, anger can be a great way to intimidate a subject, most like that prick in there would break in the first few minutes, and it's usually what first time interrogators go with in their first interrogations, the adrenaline helps you to ignore what it actually is you're doing to another human being, helps you to overrule your sense of right and wrong and just focuses you on inflicting pain to make the subject talk, the kunai was a nice touch by the way, I doubt that he'll be using that hand for anything anytime soon."

Kenta went a little green as he felt his stomach churn as he remembered that, he had been so enraged at the time he just wanted Higuma to suffer for what he said, he hadn't even thought about what he was doing.

Seeing his reaction Anko put her hand on his shoulder as he had started to double over obviously starting to feel sick at his own actions, "How do you feel Kenta, talk it out, talk about what you've just done." She explained as gently as she could.

Kenta flinched but nodded slowly, "I, I honestly don't know, I know I'm meant to feel about what I've just done, and I don't know what's worse, knowing how I should be feeling or not feeling it, I feel sick to my gut at what I did, the action itself, knowing that I could do that to another human makes me feel like I've taken a punch to the gut, but at the same time I… I feel justified," he said not believing his own words, "I feel justified in doing what I did, just the thought of how many innocent lives that… thing, has ruined and I feel justified for even inflicting a small portion of what his victims must have gone through, it's not who I did it to it's the act that I'm disgusted in if that even makes sense."

Sayaka stepped forward and put her hand on Kenta's other shoulder and smiled sadly at him, "It does Kenta." she said gently trying to help him as he gave her a small smile in response before grimacing at the feeling in his gut.

Anko nodded in agreement, "She's right Kenta, what you're feeling is normal for some, your mind is trying to rationalize your actions, I'd have been worried if you had said that you didn't feel anything, even though what you did in there was tame by my standards, for a first time session that was a bit farther than I has expected you to go, so it's understandable," she said giving him a small smile, "Though I know you don't want to hear this it's the truth, the sessions will get easier over time, you'll start to see the victim of your subject, focus on them, focus on who else the bastard on the other side of the table will hurt if you don't get the information you need, use that as your driving force instead of your anger, cause it will last you a hell of a lot longer than your adrenaline will, and will help you to sleep better for it."

Kenta nodded as he took a couple of deep breaths and did as Anko recommended focusing on Higuma's victims, and those he would have hurt as he started to feel the feeling in his gut lessen, but not go away completely, that was good, he was still feeling something about it, because no matter how much he tried to deny it Higuma was still another human being no matter how many inhuman things he did, he had still inflicted pain, tortured another human being, and he knew because of that the feeling deep inside would never fully go away and he didn't want it to because he knew that when it did that he'd have finally crossed the line and become as bad as those he was torturing.

Anko nodded as she watched Kenta try to come to terms with his own feelings before looking to her other charge, "And how do you feel Sayaka, after what you just saw Kenta do in there, what you witnessed him doing to another human being. If you can even call that scum that."

Sayaka tensed at the question and she could feel Kenta tense as well, waiting for her response and she frowned looking down as she remembered the events that happened in the room and felt a shiver go down her spine in remembrance before taking a breath to reply, "I'm not going to lie and say that what I saw didn't disturb me on some level," she said as she paused to take another breath, "and while I understand what happened was necessary, I know that as I am right now, I could never do that to another person, with a calm mind at least, out of anger I guess no one really knows what they're capable of until the time comes."

Anko nodded, "I see, and what did you think of Kenta's little bout of anger in there, I saw you flinch away from it when it happened."

Sayaka nodded, "It was more out of shock than anything else, it was just so out of character for him that I didn't know what I was seeing, it was probably the first time I've ever seen Kenta truly get angry like that, and while it was a little freighting, I understand how and why it happened and I don't hold it against you Kenta, anyone can lose themselves to anger, it only proves that you're human like the rest of us."

Kenta let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding as he nodded his head, his body relaxing as he heard Sayaka's words, while in his head he was thanking whatever deity that was watching over him for her understanding.

Anko nodded, "Good, then you both pass your first lesson, the first is always a tough one, accepting what yourself as well as what others are capable of is the first step, today was just getting your feet wet and preparing you for the lessons that will follow in the coming days, I want you both to go home now and take the rest of the day to come to term with what you've experienced here today for yourselves, and I want to see you both at the normal time in front of the Hokage tower for your next lesson, got it?" she said giving them a small smile each as they both nodded to her, "Good now get out of here" she said gesturing down the hall.

Both Genin turned and started to walk down the hallway in silence heading for the exit, the events of that day still weighing heavy on their minds as they made their way out of the building.

Anko watched in silence as her two Genin walked out letting out a small breath as she watched them leave, just as the door next to the interrogation room opened as the large figure of Ibiki stepped out, dressed in his usual business attire of his dark grey uniform and black trench coat with his bandana Hitai-ate covering the top of his head and forehead.

"That kid has sure grown up over the years" Ibiki said openly as he looked down the corridor in the direction the two Genin went, "and if I've said it once I'll say it again, that kid's got potential, he didn't even flinch at breaking that scums finger, not something most his age could claim to."

Anko nodded, "I saw," she said plainly before taking a breath, "He had me worried for a few minutes in there, given his history I wasn't sure he'd have been able to go through with it a second time, guess he's just stronger than I gave him credit for."

Ibiki looked at her with a smirk, "Look at you worrying over some Gaki, you're not going soft on me are you?" he laughed.

Anko scoffed, "Not a chance, you're just going senile in your age old timer, guess it happens to the best of us." she joked as she turned and started back towards the interrogation room to get the rest of the information from Higuma about the slave ring.

Ibiki gave an amused laugh as he shook his head before looking down the corridor toward the exit, the two Genin long since gone as he smirked knowingly, _'that kid's going to be something special one day,'_ he thought before shaking his head and turning to head back in to observe the rest of the session hoping the Higuma had gotten a second wind and he'd get to have a crack at him before the day was through, it was scum like him that made his job all the more satisfying.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's notes**

 **Okay guys and gals sorry about the wait on the updates, things have been hectic with life and all that, so my writing time and my interests have been mixed up slightly so I've had to prioritize things to fit my free time as of late.**

 **This chapter was originally meant to be a lot longer that it is but I figured ten thousand words is good enough, if I continued on to the original plan for it then chances are the word count would have doubled, so that to me means the other half is good enough for a chapter on its own.**

 **Hope you all enjoy and leave a review at the end**

* * *

 **Chapter eleven**

Kenta sat in the middle of his apartment's floor cross-legged as he meditated as he focused on his thoughts and training, it had been three full weeks since the team placements and subsequent Genin final team test.

While all the other rookies had been out on D rank missions with their senseis, things had been different in team eleven. For the past three weeks, they had been under the direct specialised training, he had been with Anko, and various other T&I interrogators from time to time, as he sat in on, and participated in, torture and interrogation sessions, as he learned how to extract information from the subjects of their interrogations.

Sayaka had been there as well but in a more refined criteria. She was working along the Iryō-nins on call on the floor she watched the sessions take place but never acutely participated in the torture. At the end she and the other Iryō-nins would begin to work on the subjects healing their injuries just enough for them to be escorted back to their cells. The subjects were all the worst kind of criminals so they didn't need to be healed totally, chances where they'd be back in interrogation in a day or so. Only when a subject had to be taken to the medical room, after an extensive session of torture, for treatment would they actually heal them completely so as to keep them from dying before all the information was gained that could be.

The days had been rough since the first, after their first session, they had spent seven hours a day in the interrogation rooms, with criminal after criminal being brought in for Kenta to work on as he learned the rather gruesome craft, but learn it he did, and like most things he learned he got good fast, but that came with its downsides.

After the first session, that night Kenta had spent the whole night staring up at his apartment ceiling as he replayed the events of that torture over and over in his head, well over a hundred times as the reality of what he had actually done set in. He had managed to get to sleep but only for a couple of hours before he had to get up for his morning training, and it hadn't gotten any better in the days after. Only when he started to throw himself into a new intense training schedule did he start to get back to his usual sleeping patters because he had run himself raged before.

Each day before he went into the interrogation cells, he spent nearly all his chakra on making Kage Bunshins for missions and his training schedule and set them to work for the whole day on the different areas of training. Then once he got out he spent hours doing physical exercise to strengthen his body while he Kage Bunshin worked on his mind, chakra control and Jutsu. By the end of it all he was exhausted physically and mentally enough to sleep using the memories he got from the Kage Bunshins to dull the memories from that day of the torture training .

The intense training Kenta had been undergoing was something that he had been putting off until after his graduation because of how advanced it was. In it he had finally started to train with his individual charka natures in order to master each of them. In his earlier years he had read, or rather his Kage Bunshin had read, multiple books and scrolls on the topic from the shinobi library and he had learned that each chakra nature requires a different set of lessons in order to completely master that chakra nature. Konoha's starting chakra nature exercises seemed to all be focused on leaves. For example, the first exercise in mastering his wind chakra was cutting a leaf clean in two while holding it between his palms, for his water nature he had to pull all the moisture from the leaf into the palm of his hand, fire nature was about turning the leaf to ash and earth was turning it to dust in his hand, but he wasn't interested in those last two. The only nature they seemed to be lacking was lightning. Kenta suspected that was because there were so few lightning natured shinobi in Konoha, so he had resolved to develop his own method of the same calibre.

The result ended up being an exercise in which he builds up his lightning chakra in his hands and placing his hands a foot apart before pushing his chakra to make the lighting chakra arc between his hands. At first, it had just been a spark, but soon he had a single arc of lightning chakra going for a few seconds before he couldn't hold it. His goal for this training was to be able to have a multiple arcs jumping from one hand to the other, but it was slow going, on all fronts.

After two weeks of abusing his clones on all three exercised he'd managed to drain half a leaf of its moisture, make it halfway through cutting the leave with his wind chakra and managed to keep a single arc of lightning going from one hand to the other for just over a minute.

In the final weak Kenta had decided to experiment further by using his elemental chakra to enhance his weapons and his body. He was extremely impressed by the results. While his water element didn't seem to do much in the ways of combat, both wind and lightning chakras were the opposite.

When he channelled his wind chakra into his sword or tools it greatly increased the cutting damage, enhancing his throwing weapons with it made them fly almost three times faster and pierce three times deeper than when he was just throwing them with regular chakra. Adding lightning to his weapons gave more of a destructive cut, he had blown the bark from a tree three inches from where his sword had impacted when he tested it, it was an impressive effect and it did the same around any thrown weapon from around the point of impact.

One thing that he had been impressed by completely was the effect that lighting chakra had on his muscles when he channelled it through them. He found that it enhanced every aspect of him physically from his speed to the power behind his attacks, it was ridiculous.

He was able to run four times faster than what he could do, and able to punch and kick five times harder and faster, but there had been a couple of unforeseen side effects. One is that he ended up hurting himself on a few of the attacks his legs bruising from the kicks and he needed to ice his hands after a few minutes of continuous fast-paced punches. He was going to have to cash out for some better shin and knuckle protection to soften the blows to his limbs, waiting until he had plenty of cash to burn from his missions before he had cashed out for a set of chakra metal shin guards and chakra metal knuckle gloves both with extra padding and to allow his blows to do even more damage.

The second unforeseen effect had been made obvious when he had decided to see how fast he really was with both his weight and gravity seals released while he channelled lightning chakra through his muscles. The effect had been far greater than he thought it would be, and he underestimated his own speed and strength.

The resulting speed gave him tunnel vision and he ended up running into things. Luckily for him at the time he was alone in the training ground at the time with only his Kage Bunshins watching him. So his pride had been somewhat spared when no one had been around to see him when he smacked straight into a tree because he couldn't control his speed. Luckily it turned out better for him than the tree which was reduced to splinters and collapsed from the enhanced lighting chakra, high-speed impact.

So he had gained extreme speed but he needed a way to counteract the tunnel vision the speed gave him, it was the problem that was still stumping him and until it was solved he was stuck using either using his lightning chakra with his seals on or his regular speed without the lightning chakra to enhance his attacks, it was as Shikamaru or any Nara would say, troublesome.

But one upside to the three weeks aside from training was that each member of team eleven were now very well off financially. Mainly thanks to Kenta's mass Kage Bunshin abuse on Anko's orders.

Every morning for the past three weeks had been the same as the first. Meeting in front of the Hokage tower for Anko to hand over fifty D rank missions, which he then created fifty teams of three Kage Bunshin for each one and sent them on their way before they left for their seven hours in the interrogation rooms.

The result of which was that team eleven now had the highest D-rank mission clear rate on record, and each of their bank accounts with balances over two to three million Ryo each. Which wasn't all that shocking seeing as the D-rank missions paid between five thousand and fifty thousand Ryo per mission. With fifty missions being completed every day the whole team was well off, and they had Kenta's Kage Bunshin to thank for it seeing as they never had to actually lift a finger.

But the biggest let down of the whole three weeks had been for Sayaka, three weeks spent treating the outcomes of the interrogation sessions and there hadn't even been a sign of her Sharingan awakening. Anko had confessed to them both yesterday that she had been hoping that the stress from seeing so many injuries might have brought it out, but there had been no luck so far.

Now, team eleven had been called off its three-week training session for its first official C-rank mission that Anko had already signed off on. They were to meet up with her at the Dango store in an hour or so for a pre-mission celebration and for Anko to give them the rundown on the mission specs before they collected the mission scroll with the official details from the mission desk.

Standing up from his sitting position Kenta stretched out his limbs, he had taken up meditation to help organise his thoughts and quiet his mind over the past three weeks, and did so for half an hour now every morning after he was finished his morning training, showered and dressed for the day ahead.

Midnight trotted over to his side and gave a bark making Kenta smirk at him as he scratched him behind the ear.

"Yeah. I'm excited to, buddy. Our first real mission, I wonder what Sarutobi-sensei has for us." Kenta grinned with excitement, "Come on let's go meet the others." He said as they started towards the door.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Kenta, Anko and Sayaka all cheered as they brought their cups together in celebration. They were sitting in the middle of the Dango shop around their usual table each grinning as they had their small pre-mission celebration.

"Fucking A, three week's already, damn time sure can fly," Anko grinned, "But what a great three week's it's been."

Kenta smirked, "Hell yeah, making grown men cry for the mummies by dinner and training all day, life can't get much sweeter than this. Can it?"

Sayaka giggled, "Plus don't forget all the Ryo we're making from your Bunshin. I've never seen so many zeros since my last bank statement, I had to have them double check I thought they placed the decimal point in the wrong place."

Anko laughed, "Yeah and now it will only be getting better now that the real missions are starting for you two. And I got us the perfect one to start us off, one that I just know that you two will want to be a part of."

Kenta grinned setting his cup down after downing it, "Well don't keep us in suspense then Anko, come on and tell us what we're going to be doing for our first Crappy-rank mission."

Anko smirked as she refilled her cup, before setting the bottle down and picking up a Dango stick, "Well you remember little old Higuma right?"

Both Kenta and Sayaka nodded. Hard not to remember their first time in the torture room, Higuma being the first one Kenta had broken at the beginning of the three weeks. Granted his breaking was by far the quickest and the most gentle of the sessions in the interrogation room, it was tame compared to the things Kenta was learning by the end of the three weeks.

"Hard not to," Kenta replied as he lifted the bottle to fill his own cup again, "What about him, this got something to do with the information we got out of him?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

Anko nodded, "As a matter of fact it does," she grinned, "after you two left that little crybaby spilled everything he knew, names, locations, times and dates. Their contacts in the other nations were particularly profitable. Everything he knew about their organization we now know, and we haven't been sitting idle with it.

For the past three weeks with that information, we've expanded our knowledge of them sending scouting teams out to verify the information and tracking their movements. We're now certain we have the locations of each hidden slaver market in the land of fire. We have eyes on each of their teams of slavers and we've verified the location of the slaver encampment. We just haven't been able to locate the second one as of yet. We believe it's solely for overflow but so far we haven't been able to track any of the teams to it. No sign of their so-called ringleaders as of yet either, but Hokage-Sama doesn't want to wait anymore.

The longer we wait, the more people, the more children, are sold into slavery or worse." Anko said taking a drink, "He's given the orders to move on all verified locations. The attacks will be synchronised and will happen in a couple of days, I've requested that our team be one of those moving on the main encampment. I figured since we were the ones to get the starting information you'd both want to see this thing through to the end, was I right?"

Both Sayaka and Kenta looked at each other both nodding at the same time in agreement.

"Damn right we do," Kenta grinned, "A chance to cripple these bastards for good, I'm not missing out on this."

"Kenta's right," Sayaka agreed, "besides I've been wanting a piece of these guys since I first saw that bastard Higuma. If the others are anything like him, then the ones they've kidnapped need to be saved before it's too late."

Anko nodded, "Good, with any luck this mission will have what is necessary for you to awaken your Sharingan, Sayaka. I'm a little disappointed my three week plan didn't exactly get it done, but there's no use moping about it, if this doesn't do it I'm genuinely stumped for idea's." she said before eating her last Dango and standing up, "Right then, come on let's get going, now that we've had our fun it's time to get to the mission desk and pick up our official orders. We can pack afterwards before we leave."

Both Genin and Ninken nodded as they moved towards the door and out onto the street heading for the Hokage tower and the mission's desk.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Coming in the door onto the floor the mission's desk was located, they heard the rantings of an unmistakable voice that sounded rather angry.

"Enough of this already, give me a real mission, not these chores! How am I meant to get stronger by weeding a garden, or walking some flea infested mutts!" ranted the voice of one male Uchiha in the room ahead of them.

Sayaka sighed recognising the voice as both Kenta and Anko rolled their eyes and Midnight let out a low growl at the last comment.

As the team rounded the corner into the room they were just in time to see Iruka slam his file down onto the desk in front of him as he stood up leaning over the table as he glared angrily at the last male Uchiha. "Stop complaining Genin Uchiha, your team still hasn't completed the necessary mission numbers required to take on higher ranked missions as of yet! Until that happens you're staying on D-ranks, no matter how much you yell about it!" Iruka said not impressed in the slightest by Sasuke's arrogance when he was standing less than several feet from the Hokage who was looking as equally unimpressed until the moment he saw team eleven coming through the door.

While Sasuke glared angrily at the Chūnin, behind him his team had varying emotions playing across their faces. Naruto on the far left looked fed up with the whole scene, mainly because this had been a reoccurring scene for the past two weeks ever since they spend the first-week covering team formations in various situations to try and improve their teamwork and unity. Which to be fair had partially worked, they had learned them well enough, and both Sakura and Naruto knew to implement them as ordered to, but the whole time Sasuke had kept pushing for Kakashi to teach him something useful on his own. The Jōnin had refused of course and referred to the teamwork training as orders direct from the Hokage seeing as only Naruto had officially passed the Genin test both Sasuke and Sakura had to complete these lessons under orders. It was technically true while they weren't official orders they were necessary to make the team somewhat functional.

To Naruto's right stood Kakashi with a look of annoyance, or what could be discribed as annoyance given how only his left eye was visible it was hard to tell what his actual mood was. But the way his viable eye was narrowed, annoyed, was a safe bet. It had only been three weeks with this team and Kakashi was ready to pull his hair out, between Sakura's constant questioning over the smallest things and her fawning after Sasuke every ten minutes and the Uchiha's constant demands for him to give him lessons on high powered Jutsu. He was getting close to calling it quits on this whole team. The only reasons why he didn't was because Sakura was actually starting to show promise in the minor chakra control training that he had her working on in preparation for him teaching her tree waking. If everything went as he planned over the next week or so her reserves and control would increase drastically giving him a base to start her specialised training on.

The other reason was Naruto, the blond was a machine when it came to training and Kenjutsu. Kakashi was sure that he had the skills needed to advance even further with the right training, but because of Kakashi having to divide his time between the three Genin he could only do so much.

And on the far side of Kakashi stood Sakura looking on worried. Although the scene wasn't something new, Sakura was always worried when it happened, she was by no means stupid and knew that the Hokage was in charge of the village, and couldn't understand why Sasuke was constantly showing such disrespect that he was by demanding higher-ranked missions. In truth she knew they weren't ready for them yet, or more specifically she wasn't ready for them yet. She knew both Naruto and Sasuke were by far stronger than her in all aspects of being shinobi. A fact that was made more clear every day in training. While she was improving little by little she was so far behind her team mates is scared her, but it didn't deter her as she kept trying to push herself, training just as hard every day to try and impress Sasuke so that he would take notice of her. Only to fail every time and be rejected on every advance, it was hard to go through and it was slowly getting harder and harder but to her, she knew it would be worth it in the end when she finally got through… if she ever did. Though that was looking less and less likely to happen every day as Sasuke only seemed to get more distance with her and Naruto as each day passed if that was even possible to begin with.

These past three weeks had shown her that things weren't at all how she had thought them to be and she was just trying to hold onto the one thing she wanted to be real, though she was slowly losing her grip on the illusion of it all.

Anko took this chance to grin, "Well isn't it funny seeing you lot here, how ya been Kakashi?" she asked as they came up behind team seven.

Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura all looked around to see team eleven coming into the room with amused looks on their faces.

Kakashi smiled below his mask, "Anko, well it's good to see you too, haven't seen you since the waves of D-ranks began."

Anko laughed, "Yeah didn't really have much time to stop by and chat, with putting these two through their training in my speciality, not a lot of free time to do much else."

Sakura blinked in confusion, "Um Mitarashi-sensei, what exactly is your speciality?"

Anko grins sadistically at her, "Oh its a very fun speciality, you see I make scumbags talk and spill all their dirty little secrets, even when they don't want to, with sharp and painful things, for the T&I division. That's what I've been training these two in, well Kenta at least, Sayaka here just patches them up so they can go another round until they spill everything, can't have them croaking before the do that."

Sakura's mouth fell open, "You… you mean your torturing people, and you're teaching your team how to do it too? That's… that's…"

Anko laughed, "Well that is my job bubble-gum, making bad men talk. Heck I'm one of the best in the village at it. When I get started lips don't stay sealed for too long."

Kenta chuckled at that, "Don't be letting Ibiki hear you coming out with stuff like that. He'd have you on door duty for a month same as Ranka has been for the past three weeks."

Sayaka giggled, "Poor guy is still complaining that his skills are getting rusty not being in interrogations in so long. I think he just wants to cut someone up."

Kenta shook his head, "Ha, more than likely, poor guy's probably just pissed cause he was able to hear that one guy screaming a while back. Remember him? The one who was so loud that even with all the soundproofing he could be heard at the far end of the corridor, and even when we stopped it didn't help any, he wouldn't stop screaming until we sedate him."

Sayaka shook her head, "Well he had good reason. Anko was peeling the skin off his right foot in chunks like a badly peeled orange."

Anko shrugged, "Gotta give the guy props though, he lasted two hours till I reached his ankle before he finally broke, man that was a lot of blood."

Sayaka groaned, "Don't remind me, I had to spend three hours patching the bastards up after you were done before he could be sent back to the cells, and I still wasn't able to find his pinkie toe no matter how hard I looked."

Anko raised an eyebrow, "What are you complaining about, we still got the information and you got good practice patching the bastard up before he bleed out. It was a win-win as far as I can see."

Sayaka sighed, "That's not the part I'm complaining, it's just I like to at least finish a job of patching my patients up properly before they're shoved back in their holes, and that pinkie toe has been bothering me for the past week, we still haven't found it." she said as nearly everyone in the room that wasn't on team eleven turned some shade of green listening to the conversation.

Sakura who looked like she was ready to throw up at the concept of what they were doing clutched her stomach to stop herself from doing just that looking at team eleven with fearful eyes, "How… how can you just talk about torture so flippantly like that, those… those are human beings you're torturing, people they have…" she started to reason only for Kenta to cross his arms and cut her off.

"No they're not Sakura." Kenta spoke his voice hardened, "They're not people. They're not human beings. They're not even animals. To call them any of those things is to insult every decent person on the planet, they're monster, and that's all they are. Monsters who's crimes are so atrocious that they no longer deserve the pity of decent people. Murderers and rapists, they have information that we need, and we get it out of them that's all there is to it." Kenta said before grinning, "And after three weeks of seven hours a day making grown men cry like little babies. It's just as easy to talk about it as everyday life." He said as his gaze hardened again and his grin fell away, "We're shinobi Sakura. That means doing what needs to be done is to see the job is completed. So if that includes systematically pulling every fingernail from a man's hand before breaking each digit and cutting them off before closing each wound slowly with a red-hot kunai just for good measure, to get information that is critical to the completion of a mission then you can bet your bony ass I'll do so without hesitation. The failure of a mission could cost you, others or your teammates their lives, every mission is important regardless of its rank or where it's at, and it's important that we complete each and every one to the best of our abilities."

Hearing Kenta speak, most of the shinobi in the room started to get their colour back and looked at Kenta with a new found respect as he got slight nods of approval from most of them for his words and reasoning.

Naruto looked on proudly at his big brother's determination and resolve with admiration. Sakura looked on as well her eyes wide in shock as she started to think about Kenta's words, and the more she did the more she couldn't find fault with anything he said, and started to frown thinking of how pathetic she was, when she knew she'd never have that kind of resolve.

Anko smirked at Kenta's little speech before giving him a sideways glance and grinned at him, "Yeah but D-ranks still suck though right?" she asked openly.

Kenta scoffed, "Oh yeah, without a doubt D-rank's suck goose eggs" he said plainly as all those who have been giving him respectful looks fell flat on their faces at the blatant turn, while other, Hiruzen, Sayaka and Anko, who had guessed it was coming chuckled amused at the scene.

Sasuke watched on and just snorted to himself, _'Useless, what strength can torturing bring, strength is being able to kill your enemies not make them talk by sticking them with needles, it's useless to me, just like all these pathetic missions'_

Sayaka stops giggling at Kenta's little moment before nodding her head in agreement with him, "Oh defiantly, it's a good thing we doing have to do them anymore." She said before looking at Anko with a grin, "Right Anko-sensei?"

Anko nodded with a grin of her own, "Right." She said as she walked forward to the mission desk and Hiruzen who was currently sat behind it knowing full well what was coming, "Hokage-Sama, Team eleven reporting to receive mission briefing on Mission number three-zero-seven-one-five-nine-victor-tango-delta-alpha" she spoke in a mock official tone.

Hiruzen nodded to her as he gave a chuckle, "So noted. As it just so happens I already marked that mission down as accepted by team eleven in preparation for your arrival," he said taking out a scroll from inside his robes and handed it to Iruka, "check it off the list." he said seriously.

Iruka took the scroll and nodded, knowing an order when he heard it. Sitting back down he checked the mission number and started to run through the list on the board in front of him. The lower down the list he got and the more pages he flipped up to find the number, the more worry came to his face when he actually did find it and read the mission parameters. He gave a side glance to the Hokage to see if anything was amiss, and then to the waiting teams seeing them still waiting. He simply sighed before marking the mission off the list and handed the scroll back to Hiruzen.

Taking the mission scroll Hiruzen handed it to Anko who accepted as Hiruzen stood up placing his hands behind his back in a serious manner before speaking.

"Quad eleven, your mission is to rondeau with squads B-three and C-Six at the mission coordinates outside of the village boundaries for your complete mission briefing on the unified assault on the slaver encampment and black market sights. Your objective is the eradication of all hostiles inside the encampment and the safe retrieval of the captives. Lethal force on the enemy has been authorised, and the unified assault on multiple fronts has been scheduled to commence at sixteen hundred hours in two days' time, giving you just over fifty hours to make it to the rondeau point for your briefing on the assault parameters and coordinate with the teams already in place.

A grace period of three days has been assigned to the mission to allow for any complications missed to be taken care off before you are expected to begin your return to the village to be debriefed on its expiration, you are expected back in six days total, happy hunting" Hiruzen finished his briefing.

Hearing what team eleven's mission actually was got many reactions from those in the room the most prominent was from the two other Genin on squad seven other than Naruto.

Sakura gasped putting her hands over her mouth as she realised what the mission actually was that squad eleven was going to be leaving to do, "Y-You're going out to-to kill people?" she stated in shock, but her question was left unanswered when Mt Sasuke finally erupted in anger.

"What the hell! How are they getting to go outside the village on such a high priority mission like that, while I'm stuck in the village doing what amounts to chores?" Sasuke raged unable to contemplate how he was being outclassed by his younger sister and Kenta once again.

Hiruzen ever patient waited for his rant to stop, taking the time to contemplate his response and decided that it would be best to inform Mikoto of the boy's outburst, he was his mother after all and would likely have something to say about it when he got home. Oh how he wished he could be a fly on the wall in that house to see the boy get his comeuppance for his utter lack of respect.

Clearing his throat Hiruzen answered, "It is simple Genin Uchiha, squad eleven can take on such missions because they have proven themselves ready by fulfilling their mission quota to be allowed to do such. They have proven themselves both capable and deserving of the task they have been assigned which is why I signed off on it. It is not your place to question your Hokage's decision, Genin" he added with a stern glare.

As Sasuke fumed over that fact and gnashed his teeth in rage, Sakura stepped forward confused.

"But Hokage-Sama, with all due respect I'm confused, how could they have done more missions than us? We both graduated the academy and started taking on missions on the same day." Sakura asked before bowing her head respectfully to the leader of the village awaiting either her dismissal or response as she was taught to do.

But the response didn't come from the Hokage, rather it came from Sayaka who smirked hearing her question, "That's easily answered Sakura but first, just to prove that we have indeed done so…" Sayaka said before looking to Iruka, "Iruka-san, could you please read off the completed tally of D-rank missions for team eleven, for all to hear please?"

Iruka looked to the Hokage for permission to do so and got a nod in response before he started to flick through the reports and ran his finger down the numbers before stopping, "Let's see here…" he said before his eyes widened seeing the count and he looked up blinking before looking back, and blinked again before sighing he should have gotten used to the shocks by now, "Squad eleven mission reports: completed missions do date, D-rank missions: one thousand and fifty, completed on time and without incident or reported complaints" he said in monotone and shook his head, he really should have known to expect this.

Hearing the number called out once again brought varying responses, Naruto smirked knowing how Kenta's team had pulled it off with ease over the past three weeks, while Sakura's bottom jaw literally dropped to the floor as her mouth hung open in disbelief, and Mt Sasuke had another mini eruption of "What the hell! How is that even possible?!"

Kakashi gave an impressed whistle, "Not too shabby" he said trying to hide his impressed look as he looked over to Anko, "So want to share with everyone how you managed to pull that one off, what's your team's secret?"

Anko grinned at the question, "It's simple cyclops, my team's got a secret weapon, that can complete Dumbass-ranked missions in no time flat" she states proudly.

Sayaka giggled at the comment, "Yeah a redhead who can multiply into his own mini-army" she said covering her mouth as Kakashi blinked at the comment before facepalming.

"Of course" Kakashi sighed, "Why the hell didn't I think of that, but then again it would only be possible for your team and ours but then we'd never get the same results with our restrictions" he explained while gesturing to both Sasuke and Sakura, "we kind of need the teamwork practice."

Kenta nodded, "I hear ya Kakashi, but all the same…" he said before looking to Hiruzen, "the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is a blessing from kami-sama."

Hiruzen nodded sagely, "Indeed it is." He agreed before sitting down again, "Squad eleven you are dismissed, you have your orders"

Each member of team eleven bowed at the dismissal, even Midnight bowed his head, and turned to leave. As the two Uzumaki brothers passed each other Kenta stopped as Naruto held out a fist and Kenta did the same in the common gesture before they both smirked.

"Be careful out there Nii-chan," Naruto said sounding a little worried but knowing that his brother would be fine.

Kenta smirked, "Isn't that meant to be my line being the older brother and all?" he asked jokingly before shaking his head in amusement, "No worries Otōto, I'll be back before you know it, just don't you dare gorge on nothing but ramen while I'm gone. I'll be checking with Ayame and Teuchi when I get back. If I find out you even had one more than I normally allow I'll be upping your gravity and weight seals on out Sunday training sessions for a month of Sundays and inviting Lee to join us." He threatened.

Naruto's jaw drops, "Awe come on Nii-chan cut me some slack!" he groaned in disbelief.

Kenta smirked, "Then don't slack off then. You want to be Hokage someday Otōto, you gotta earn that hat." He said thumbing over his shoulder to an amused Hiruzen who was watching on with amusement before Kenta patted Naruto's shoulder for a final goodbye and walked on to meet Midnight, Sayaka and Anko at the door as they started to walk out of the building.

As team eleven walked down the hallway Sayaka gave Kenta a side glance, "You were bluffing about the whole inviting Lee thing right?" she asked a little worried for Naruto as even Midnight whimpered at the idea.

Kenta scoffed at the question, "Oh hell yeah, I may be a sadist but looking at those eyebrows and that amount of spandex for an extended period of time is a whole other kind of torture that I want no part in, let alone submitting my Otōto to."

Anko visibly shivered at the thought, "Amen to that, I'm telling you Ibiki could learn a thing or two from that pair about visual torture. That sunset Genjutsu of theirs is something I never want to see again, ever."

After a few more minutes the team finally exit the tower, getting to the gate Anko then turns to the Genin and Ninken group, "Alright seeing as this mission is a week long, we're going to have to pack for the trip to and from the mission site, so we'll leave in an hour seeing as how the Mutt", ***Midnight growls*** , "Needs his check-up done before we can leave so that his stats can be compared when we get back. That'll give us plenty of time to pack for the trip. We meet at the west gate in one hour, got it?" she asked looking at the three getting nods from each of them before they broke up to head home to pack.

* * *

 **Scene break- Uchiha District**

Arriving back at the clan head house in the Uchiha district, Sayaka took off her shinobi boots as she entered, as she did so the door to the kitchen opened revealing Mikoto drying her hands.

"Sayaka-chan?" Mikoto said in confusion, "What are you doing back so early? I thought you had gone to meet up with your team?"

Sayaka gave her a smile, "I did Kaa-chan, but I had to come home to pack. We've been given our first C-rank mission, an extermination and retrieval of a slaver camp two days outside of the village. Anko sensei gave us an hour to pack while Kenta-kun takes Midnight for his check in before we go. We should be gone about a week."

Hearing her daughter's explanation Mikoto first looked shocked but then her expression changed to one full of pride as she smiled before hugging Sayaka, "Oh that's wonderful Sayaka-chan, oh I'm so proud of you, you're first C-rank already and not even a month into your shinobi career yet, oh Fugaku would be fuming knowing that you got one before your brother did."

Sayaka rolled her eyes at that, "Yeah, Sasuke-Nii wasn't one bit impressed himself." She commented remembering her brother's words.

Mikoto stopped hugging her daughter hearing that and released her looking at her with a raised eyebrow, "Sasuke knows? What did he do now?" she asked openly.

Sayaka sighed and nodded, "Yeah he knows, he was there at the mission desk when we were getting our mission. Before we arrived he was practically demanding for team seven to be given something more than an in village D-rank mission. When he heard we were getting a C-rank and a high ranked one at that, he completely flipped. I don't know what he was thinking speaking like that in front of Hokage-Sama." She said shaking her head still in disbelieve at her brother's behaviour.

Mikoto sighed rubbing her temple, "I don't know either, but I shall definitely be having words with him about this once you're gone. He can't go on acting like this if he still wants to remain heir to the clan. If he can't control himself and show the respect owed to those in power he doesn't deserve to have his own." she said before shaking her head, "but that's enough on your brother, go and get ready for your mission, I'll see you again before you leave." she smiled trying to change the mood of the conversation.

Sayaka smiled, "okay, Kaa-chan, I'll be back in a few," she said as she quickly took the left corridor and headed to her room at the end.

Sayaka's room was well organised with her bed against the far wall as you entered, and a low sitting window to the left of it next to a set of segmented box shelves holding multiple scrolls, on the opposite side of the room was a desk and wardrobe, her walls painted a deep wine red with wooden flooring.

Coming into her room Sayaka went over to the shelves and started to pick out individual labelled scrolls marked for what they contained. She remembered back to when Kenta had taught her how to first make storage seals and scrolls so she could keep her equipment organised for quick packing.

Picking out scrolls labelled, Kunai, shuriken, clothing, explosive tags, ninja wire, camping supplies, ration bars and water. She moved them all to her bed before taking one of the three longer scrolls on top of the shelves that was the same thickness as the smaller ones but three times the length.

Sayaka unfurled the longer scroll to reveal the multiple storage seals in rows of three inside before she started to lift the smaller scrolls and seal them inside the larger one. As she sealed the last one in she moved to roll the scroll back up but stopped as her gaze flickered to the mahogany box with a brass latch that sat on her desk. She bit her lower lip in thought as she rounded her bed to her desk running her fingers over the carved Uchiha crest on its top as she remembered back to when she first received this.

* * *

 **Flashback**

A younger Sayaka was looking up at her mother standing in the living room, it had been less than a week after the clan massacre and her mind was reeling after hearing the story her mother had just told her.

Mikoto kneeled down in front of her daughter with a proud smile on her face, holding in her hands the red mahogany box with its lid open showing the contended, a completely black scroll with three red tomoes on its front, sitting on a ruby red silk cloth.

Mikoto closed the box and the latch before holding it out towards the young Sayaka, "It's your responsibility now. When the time comes, you'll know when it's time to be used," she said still with a proud look in her eyes.

Sayaka hesitantly took the box and ran her fingers over the carved crest in wonder as she slowly nodded.

* * *

 **Flashback end**

A smile graces Sayaka's face as she looks at the box and undoes the latch on its front revealing the all black scroll still inside, taking a breath she lifts it out and looks at it, _'I don't know why, but I feel like you'll be needed'_ she thinks to herself before moving to her bed once more and sealed the black scroll in the farthest storage seal for safe keeping before she rolled the larger scroll up and slotted it into the carry case and slung it over her shoulder before heading for the door.

* * *

 **With Kenta & Midnight**

After splitting up Kenta took his partner to the Inuzuka Veterinary clinic for his check-up, Kenta pushed open the doors as he and his partner entered inside only to see Kiba and his partner Akamaru by the front desk, both smirked seeing each other.

"Hey Kenta, Midnight!" Kiba called, "Where you two been? Haven't seen you around the village lately, only those Kage Bunshin of yours." He commented with a grin.

Kenta chuckled, "Yeah we've been in specialized training, while Anko had me use my Kage Bunshin to keep our mission stats up, well specialized for me anyway," the redhead grinned, "just here to get Midnight a check-up before our team leaves on our first C-rank mission"

Kiba blinked in shock, "No freak'n way, C-rank already? Damn dude, you just keep leaving the rest of us in the dust" he said looking slack-jawed.

"Congrats," came a voice from the back as Hana came out of one of the examination rooms, "I'd say it's about time you got out there and showed them what you've got" she grinned, "come on in the back here and I'll give Midnight his once-over before you can head out, I'd imagine your both itching to get on the road." she said before heading into the back with a hand gesture to follow.

Going into the back examination room Hana made her way to the filing cabinet in the corner and started looking for the file she needed as Kenta, Midnight, Kiba and Akamaru came into the room.

"So dude, you know what type of mission it is yet you're going on for your first C-rank?" Kiba asked as he leaned against the wall.

"Transportation, bodyguard detail, scouting and research, travel assistant?" Hana rhymed off as she looked for the file.

Kenta smirked, "Bandit extermination and captive retrieval," he told them and watched their reactions as Kenta looked at him once again slack-jawed and Hana swerved around to look at him for a minute blinking before pulling Midnight's file.

"Damn that sounds badass!" Kiba finally responded recovering from his initial shock.

Hana nodded as she moved over to the examination table with the file, "I agree though it does sound a little up there for a first-time mission, got to be top of the C-ranks that's for sure" she reasoned as Midnight jumped up on the table for her to begin his exam.

Kenta nodded, "Maybe. But my team has been involved with the mission from its very first intel gathering session, hell I was even the one who broke the guy to get the intel on the slaver camps. We want to see this mission through to the very end." he reasoned.

Hana raised an eyebrow hearing that and Kiba looked at him in shock, "You tortured a guy?" Kiba stated not sure how to take that.

Kenta nodded, "He was a slave trader, a murderer, rapist, and part of a slaver ring who kills families, rapes women and takes young girls to be sold as slaves." Kenta stated with obvious disgust with what he was saying, "The bastard had intel and I got it out of him, that's all there is to it." he stated plainly.

Both Inuzuka siblings scowled at that, "I hope you made that bastard hurt." Kiba stated as Hana went back to Midnight's examination.

Kenta smirked, "Oh I did that alright, though I just wish I could have had him a couple sessions later after I had some practice in so I could have made him hurt a whole lot more for a whole lot longer," he said with his smirk turning sadistic.

Hana grinned hearing that comment as she adjusted something in the file, "Sounds like Anko is rubbing off on you." She stated openly.

Kenta grinned, "You're only just realizing that now?" he stated like it wasn't that big of a shock.

Hana gave a barking laugh before shaking her head, "You got me there." She replied as she marked down the slightest change in his eyes, ears, coat measurements, claws, teeth, gums, anything that could indicate to decrease in health upon their return before nodding, "Alright you're good to go, Midnight here is as healthy as any Inuzuka Ninken partner I've seen, one of the strongest actually next to the triples, Akamaru and Kuromaru"

Kenta grinned as Midnight gave a bark as he got down from the table and returned to his master, Kenta scoffed, "I think that's Midnight saying thanks for the compliment, but then again, you did train us both in the Inuzuka techniques after all" he grinned back.

Hana chuckled, "Well that just proves it, I'm a damn fine instructor, and that you two were damn fine students," she smirked, "that's why I know you'll both be fine on your mission. No one will be able to lay a finger on the pair of you." she added as she closed up Midnight's folder and put it back into the filing cabinet, "Alright the pair of you are good to go."

Kenta nodded, "thanks, Hana-chan, we'll see you when we get back for Midnight's check-in, shouldn't be more than a week, we've got to meet up with two other teams to coordinate for this joined assault, it's a two day trip there, gonna be running for a while" he sighed.

Kiba grinned, "Well you two better get going then. When ya get back we'll all meet up for a barbeque celebration, all the teams to welcome you back and celebrate your first official C-rank mission success. I'm sure Hinata will be thrilled to have Naruto there." he grinned.

Kenta gave a chuckled, "Yeah but Otōto is still clueless about her, or her crush on him, I guess it's just true what they say about blonds." he chuckled, "I'll have to see about fixing that when I get back, maybe see about getting them together."

Hana gave a laugh, "Oh I'm sure Hiashi would be thrilled about that," she laughed sarcastically, "He's not exactly the type to like anyone outside of his clan."

Kenta gave her a feral grin, "Well if he does have a problem with it he can take it up with me. I'd be happy to pull that ten-foot pole out of his ass and beat him over the head with it if he so much as tries to keep them apart after I set them up."

Kiba started to laugh hard, "Oh man, that'd be a fight I'd pay to see" he laughed clutching his gut.

Hana gave a grin, "Yeah you and about thirty others I can name off the top of my head" she added.

Kenta rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, "Well if he tries anything everyone will see," he said walking out the door, "see you two when I get back, gotta go pack." he commented as he walks to the door heading out of the clinic with Midnight coming up behind him.

* * *

 **Time Skip**

Getting back to the Uzumaki apartments, both Kenta and Midnight went inside. Midnight went to lie down on Kenta's bed while his master packed their things, which wasn't going to take long at all, given how well organised the older Uzumaki was with his scrolls and equipment.

Kenta made his way over to his bed also and pulled out a large low lying metal reinforced black case from under his bed, undoing the latches on it he opened it to reveal the multiple compartments inside each containing various scrolls each marked differently with various kanji.

Kenta quickly set about removing his scroll on his sash and replacing them with others from the case with the right equipment for the week ahead of him before closing the case up and sliding it back under his bed only to pull out a smaller one and opening it up to reveal several Kunai pouches next to sharpening stones

Undoing his own Kunai pouch from his hip Kenta quickly replaced it with one from the box and plucked out a fresh sharpening stone before closing the case up as well and pushing it back under the bed.

Standing up Kenta nodded and started back towards the door as Midnight went to join him only for the red head to stop just as he was about to open the door and sigh, "Of course how could I forget the most important thing," he stated out loud before he walked back to his bed and went to his bed side table and took out the empty top drawer and flipped it to reveal the sealing array on its bottom, with a quick hand sign he opened it revealing a scroll as its contents with the Kanji for Pocky on it, which he quickly swiped and put it into the inside pocket of his flak jacket and breathes a sigh of relief.

"That was too close, an entire week without Pocky would be like… a week without breathing" Kenta mused to himself as he turned and headed out the door, Midnight beside him, to meet up with his team, whistling a happy tune.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was half an hour later when both Kenta and Sayaka were waiting by the west gate of the village both rather quiet rather than talking as they psyched themselves up for the mission ahead of them.

Midnight lay by his master's side his eyes closed as he rested in the mid-day sun when his ear twitched and his eyes opened just as a gust of wind blew through and Anko appeared in a swirl of purple leaves a smirk on her face.

"Well, I'm all set." Anko stated with a small bag brown bag over her shoulder, "Ready to hit the road you two?" she asked as she looked at her two Genin.

Both Sayaka and Kenta nodded in return as the three of them plus Midnight started out the gate, Anko flashing the mission scroll to the gate guards as they walked past and out onto the road.

About five minutes down the road and still with nothing being said Anko looked over her shoulder with a grin, "So you two excited for your first time out of the village, big bad Crappy-rank mission, got you hyped so much you've stopped talking?" she mused.

Neither Sayaka or Kenta could keep grins from their faces at that, Kenta shook his head, "I guess we are a little nervous." he said with a half smirk.

Sayaka nodded, "Yeah it's a lot to take in, our first time out of the village and for such an important mission." She voiced in agreement.

Anko nodded sagely, "Yeah I can't blame ya, I was probably the same my first time out on a high profile mission as well, but that's a good thing, means you're taking it seriously, if ya aren't, mistakes get made and people get dead, either you or your teammates." she explained as they walked, "You have to always keep your guard up when your outside of the village, while we're not at war with any of the other villages right now, that would only be a second thought on another shinobi's mind if they see you and the opportunity to kill you to weaken the village if even a little." she explains as they continued.

Kenta scoffed, "And that's not even taking into account all the nuke-nins and suicidal bandits who are stupid enough to take pot shots at us."

Anko nods, "Don't underestimate them. Even a stupid fool can get lucky, all it takes is a shinobi or Kunoichi to drop their guard or underestimate them and it's lights out."

Both Genin nodded at that, the apparent reality of things beginning to settle in, they weren't in the safety of the village walls anymore, this was serious they had to keep their guard up even if they were still relatively close to the village they were in the open an attack could come from anywhere they couldn't get sloppy.

Anko nodded in approval seeing the pair start to glance around keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings, it showed they were even more alert than before, she smirked, "Alright then, there's a medium sized settlement in a three day jaunt from our position, the slaver camp is meant to be just due north of it, we'll be meeting up at the base camp the other squads have set up two clicks south of that position in order to go over assault plans before we make our move, the sooner we get there the longer we'll have to memorise the details of the attack." She stated before coming to a dead stop in the middle of the road causing Kenta and Sayaka to stop as well as Anko turned to face them, "Regardless of what was said earlier in the missions office, odds are that you will both have to spill blood in this mission, taking another's life isn't an easy thing to do, but it's part of the job, and everything up to this point has been to prepare you for that. But when it all boils down to it, none of that will matter, in the heat of the moment it will be either them or you, either they die or you do, my only advice that I can give you is to make it quick and clean, kill them before they have a chance to fight back, I know you can handle yourselves in a fight but I don't want either of you two risking yourselves if you can end them before they can even pull their weapons. This is our first mission outside of the village, I don't want to bring either of you back in body bags just because you decided to give these fuckers a chance to defend themselves, they don't deserve it"

Kenta nodded, "We know Anko. We're ready for this. We knew what we were getting into when we signed up to become shinobi, this is an extermination mission, we weren't expecting to take a back seat and just watch the whole time. We're a third of the attacking force, we'll have to get our hands dirty if this mission is to succeed. I already accepted that when I heard the mission details." He said with solidarity as Midnight gave a bark of agreement from beside his master.

Sayaka nodded as well, "We both know what we're getting into Anko. You don't have to baby us. We're ready for this. The one's we're going to be killing deserve it, they deserve no mercy for what they've done. The world will be a better place with them gone." She said adding her two bits to what Kenta had said, "While it goes against the oath I took as an Iryō-nin, to preserve life, their deaths are necessary to prevent more lives from being ruined and taken to early. It is our job as a shinobi to do so, and I will see it carried out as ordered."

Anko looked over the two Genin in front of her and saw their confident and serious expressions she could see that they meant every word they said. But she also knew that those words would mean little to nothing when it all boiled down to the heat of the moment. Talk was cheap. It was in the moment when the decision had to be made that was what it would all came down to, she only hoped she'd be there to back them up if it all turned pear-shaped.

Putting on a smirk she nodded, she was proud of both of them for their determination to see their orders carried out at least she wasn't about to lecture them anymore on the matter. They would learn their lessons on their own all too soon enough she just had to hope that they didn't break from the experience after the fact.

"Alright then," Anko grinned, "let's stop wasting time then, shall we. We've got a mission to get to, let's move it double time."

Both Genin and Ninken nodded to the older shinobi before they all leapt two the tree's and sped off through the branches towards their mission location.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone, yes I'm still alive. Sorry to all who thought I was dead, I know you probably held little mini funerals for me after I had been gone for close to over five months, I 'd like to apologize for that, I blame a writer's block and lack of inspiration to write as the cause, as well as everything going on in my real world life, it's just all been a lot to deal with and I'm betting is the cause for my lack of drive as of late. I was fortunate enough to get inspired by a recent idea that made me want to read back over this fiction and rekindle my passion for it and before I knew it I was writing again, and in four days I had managed to get this done, not a bad hussle considering how long it's been, anyway I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I promise you won't have to wait as long for the next one, I have a skeleton plan already made out and I just have to add some meat to it before I can start writing.**

 **And just a quick warning to everyone, there will be some rather descriptive scenes in this of the violet and bloody nature, no torture but there will be blood and lots of it so read with caution if you are the queasy type.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

It had been a long trip to the coordinates of the rendezvous site that the mission scroll had listed, thirty-six hours of travel in total with eight hours set aside for small breaks and rest between the long stints of high-speed travel. But finally squad eleven landed just outside the small hidden encampment where they were to meet up with the other squads joining in the attack on the slaver camp.

Four small tents, all a dark green camo, were set up in a ring around a much larger four post command tent with a dark grey camo, with a dark green fabric mesh over the top to provide additional camouflage to prevent it from being made out easily from a distance.

As the three Shinobi and Ninken entered the small cleared area the flap on the command tent opened and another Konoha Shinobi stepped out, he had black eyes and a short crop of brown hair that could be seen at the sides of his bandanna-style Hitai-ate, wearing the standard Chūnin attire of Konohagakure complete with a the green flak jacket and blue bodysuit, the only other identifying mark he had was that of a purple colored tattoo he had on his left cheek which Kenta could make out as the Kanji for Kage.

The man looked at them with shock on his face, "Anko, we weren't expecting you or your squad for another couple of hours at least." the Chūnin said before he looked to both Kenta, Sayaka and Midnight before back to the purple haired Kunoichi, "I would have thought having two Genin would have slowed you down some." he stated.

Anko smirked, "Good to see you too Kokage." she said in greeting, "And you don't have to worry about these two, or the mutt, they are able to keep with me just fine. The pair of them could probably run laps around you and still be able to kick your butt ten times over." she stated with a grin.

Kokage blinked for a moment before looking back to Kenta and Sayaka for a moment before seeing that they weren't winded in the slightest, and even giving him slightly annoyed looks for his comment, he chuckled a little and nodded, "Sorry, it's just that I remember what it was like when I was a fresh Genin, two days running with little breaks would have left me exhausted, it's good to see some Genin are taking their training seriously." he said in way of apology, "My name's Kokage Yanagikage, I'm leading squad B-three on this mission."

Both Kenta and Sayaka nodded back to him accepting his apology, "No apology needed Kokage-san, many of the civilian students in our class wouldn't be able to do so either, but Kenta and myself have been training partners since before we started the academy. We've always pushed each other to do better, a short two day run isn't that tiring for the two of us" Sayaka explained, "I'm Sayaka Uchiha and this is Kenta Uzumaki and his Ninken partner, Midnight." she introduced them.

Kokage nodded, "Good to meet you." he said before turning back to the command tent, "Come on inside it's just my team here now. Team C-six is out watching the slaver camp and keeping us apprised of any changes." He said as he opened the tent door as they all walked into the large tent.

Inside there was a table set up in the middle of the floor with another two Shinobi standing on the opposite side of it. One had dark eyes and brown, jaw-length hair that frames the sides of his face that hung over his standard blue Konohagakure Hitai-ate. The other had small black eyes and short brown hair that comes to a point at the top with his own Hitai-ate around his forehead, both were wearing the standard Chūnin uniform same as Kokage.

"Squad B-three, this is Sayaka Uchiha and Kenta Uzumaki and his partner Midnight of squad eleven. Squad eleven these two are Zaji and Kabure my squad mates for this mission." Kokage introduced them.

Both Kenta and Sayaka nodded to the two Chūnin in greeting and both nodded back, Zaji smirked, "So these are the ones we have to thank for getting the Intel that started all this." he said with a grin, "Nice job, you three come to make sure it's all finished and wrapped up with a neat little bow."

Anko chuckled, "Yeah we can't leave it to you guys, knowing you Zaji you'd screw it up somehow." she joked getting a laugh from everyone bar the smirking Zaji.

"Alright that's enough chatter." Kokage said as he chuckled, "Come on let me show you three what I've got planned for this operation. We were just about to go over the plans again so you three have good timing." He said as he gestured to the large map laid out on the table with various reports spread over it.

Squad eleven took up one side of the table as they looked down at the map and documents to see what they were facing. Kokage moved to the other side of the table with his team before clearing his throat.

"Alright, so the reports from C-six detail what the camp it like and it's a pretty basic setup." Kokage started as he gestured to the map and circled a small area on it, "Their main defense is a seven foot wall made up of cut down trees, it looks like a hatch job but it's sturdy enough for their purpose." He said "C-six have been able to get a general layout of the inside from looking through the gaps in the wall, as well as getting a birds eye view from the treetops around the perimeter." he tapped an area to the far right of the circle, "They have several large cages set up in this area, filled with young women and children. There are nine hostels in total armed with various weapons though nothing properly maintained, a couple of crossbows, swords an axe or two, and a variety of other weapons. Though they don't exactly look proficient in using them." he stated before tapping another area in the circle, "The two main areas that they congregate are here and here, a small fire pit and a log cabin that they took over for their shelter. They have a two man patrol circling the outside doing a full rotation in just under three minutes which swaps out ever two hours, though it isn't timed and the swaps vary."

"That's our opening to get people inside before we make our move. Our plan is to take out one of the patrols silently and replace them with two of our own under Henge. Once they are in place and the next patrol is out we deal with them and we'll have nearly halved their numbers. Then once our inside men are in place and the signal is given we will have the element of surprise on our side when two of their own turn on them. We'll also have men in the trees to provide overwatch and give strategic long-range assistance with Kunai and Shuriken given that we can't use our Jutsu as it would danger the captives. So getting in close would be the best option overall to eliminate any chance of the captives being caught up in the fighting."

Kenta nodded as he heard the plan and read over one report in particular, "What about the gate? I'm seeing here that they have two thugs guarding it at all time." he said noting the report detailing them and their weapons.

Kokage nodded, "Yes they will be the first to be dealt with when the attack commences. They're the biggest threat, large brutes with heavy weapons. But with little going on up top the signal for the attack to commence will be when they fall. The sudden fall of the two of them will give the opening for our inside men to take out the nearest slavers close to them when they are caught up in the sudden shock. There will only be three left alive by that point, so we will outnumber them three to one with the nine of us assigned to this assault."

Midnight gave a growl at that comment and Kenta ruffled his fur, "I think you mean ten." he chuckled.

Kokage gave a smirk, "Right ten of us." He said before going back to the map, "This is the way that I have it planned out. Zaji and I will be up in the trees in the area above the captives to provide the overwatch and to prevent any chance of a slaver grabbing one of the captives to use as a meat shield." he explained, "Once the second team is in position and the second patrol is taken out another two of ours will Henge into them to get the gates to open. Once they are open they will take out the two brutes and those inside take out the two closest to them." He added before looking up, "I planned all this out when it was just going to be the two squads here so you guys will just be here as back up. With any luck everything will go off without a hitch and you three won't have to do much else than take up the overwatch on the other side of the encampment to give support if it's needed."

Squad eleven nodded not having any real problems with the plan, seeing that it was set out so well, though Anko did give a huff, "And here I was hoping for some real action." she said before sighing, "Sorry you two looks like your first C-rank mission is going to be a bit of a downer."

Kenta smirked; "Eh there's always the next one. As long as everything runs smoothly here I don't mind watching how it's done from the sidelines." he shrugged.

Sayaka nodded in agreement as she looked over the plans in thought, "Kokage-san, wouldn't it be better to bide our time just for a little bit longer with our men inside and get a second-team inside? That way we would cut the enemies numbers by a further two before beginning the assault." she asked.

Kokage shook his head, "If we had the time to spare that would be ideal, but once the first team is inside we need to put things in motion as soon as possible because the longer they're in there the higher the chance of them being discovered as imposters gets. We don't have time nor the backgrounds to do proper profiling on the ones we'll be impersonating so we can't even hope to have them be able to mimic anything but their walk patterns and appearance with the Henge. If we left it any longer it would put the operation at risk if they were discovered that's why we'll be pressing the attack within three minutes once the first team is inside. That will allow for enough time for the team to get into position within the enemy encampment and ready themselves for the attack to begin." he explained, "While we're lucky right now to have even numbers I don't want to risk them catching on and possibly blowing the whole op before we can even get started with the main attack."

Squad eleven nodded in agreement with the assessment of the situation it would be better to move fast once they had people inside, and with trained Shinobi inside dispatching the three left after the gate guards fell should make for an easy task considering that they wouldn't have the skills nor reaction time to act once things got started, it would be over before they even knew what happened.

It was at that moment the cry of a Hawk was heard from outside the tent and Kokage looked to the door before he stepped up and held out his arm as a messenger hawk landed on it with a small scroll tied to its talon. "Its a report from C-Six." he said as he retrieved the message and started to read it frowning as he did so, "Damn it, looks like things have changed." he said as he made his way over to the table, "We're not going to have equal numbers any more." he said as he put the message on the table, "One of the other groups came by the camp about five minutes ago with a fresh batch of slaves, all young girls, but because their cages were already full to the max they had to move out again. C-six is currently following them because the direction they went doesn't match up to the other camps we've discovered and it could be the final one we've been looking for." he said with a frown, "They followed protocol and sent a second message to the Hokage to inform him of this at the same time they sent this back to us."

Kenta crossed his arms hearing that, "So now we've got to wait until we hear back from lord Hokage on whether or not the mission is still a go." he stated frowning.

Kokage nodded, "Yes we'll give it seven hours, that's more than enough time for them to receive the message and relay any new orders back to us. But either way there's no way for them to send out an additional team to restock our numbers." he stated looking grim before glancing to Anko, "Looks like you'll be getting to have your share in the action after all Anko."

Anko nodded back, "Don't worry, these two can handle it. They aren't as green as most academy students." She stated, confident in her two Genin.

Kenta nodded as well, "We're Shinobi as well. We came here expecting to be involved and not to sit on the sidelines, this doesn't change anything." He stated with his fists clenched and blood pumping in his ears as he kept his expression one of resolve.

Kokage looked to him and then to Sayaka who had the same expression on her own face to show that they were both committed to seeing the mission through and he nodded, "Alright then, but just so you know that means that you two will have to be the infiltration team. That was going to be C-six's part of the mission but now that they're gone that's going to have to fall to your team, and while I would like to send Anko in I'm going to need her to back up Kabure to take down those two brutes at the gate when the attack begins." he stated, "Are you two okay with getting your hands dirty?"

Anko glance at her two Genin at that a little worried about them knowing that this was just the thing she had been worried about when they had first left the village, but the looks in both of their eyes squashed those worries as both of them nodded.

"Like I said we're Shinobi." Kenta said with conviction, "Taking lives is part of the job. These bastards have caused nothing but hell for other people if we can end that here and now, we won't hesitate to do so. The fact that it's for a mission is just a bonus."

Kokage looked Kenta straight in the eye in a test of wills for several moments in a challenge to see who would look away first but when neither did Kokage smirked, "That's what I like to hear, you'll do just fine." he said with a nod, "Alright head out to the tents and rest up, me and Zaji are going to go out to the encampment to take over C-six's post to make sure that nothing else changes before the attack. Kabure will come and get you when it's nearer the time. You've had a long trip here I want you both rested and in the right mindset for when the operation begins, dismissed."

Both Sayaka and Kenta nodded and started from the tent with Midnight staying by his masters side as they left, Anko watched them go and once they were outside she let out a sigh, well this was what they had signed up for and she had prepared them both as best she could, now it was up to them to put all that training to the test, she just hoped that their convictions would hold out.

* * *

 **Time skip- two hours before mission start**

Kenta sat in one of the smaller tents, sitting on one of the crates of supplies as he sat with his sword out and between his legs with each of its blades in a cross-section as he went over each with a small black sharpening stone as he refined the edges of each of the smaller blades one at a time until they were razor sharp. It was what he found himself doing in order to take his mind off the mission and the part he knew he would have to play in it. While he knew he was committed to doing what he had to do there was a part of him that felt uneasy and shaky. He knew it was just his nerves before going on his first serious mission and that it would go away when his adrenaline started pumping and he had to think and act in the heat of the moment but right now he was just doing everything he could to try and steady himself until the time came.

Looking down at the very blade he was sharpening he felt a knot form in his stomach. In a few short hours he would be taking someone's life, possibly with this very blade that he was sharpening right now. The thought made him pause mid stroke with the sharpening stone before continuing on a moment later as he pushed the thought from his mind as he continued on. It was funny in a way, he had probably sharpened this blade hundreds of times over the years, and now something so small and insignificant seemed so big to him now.

After finishing the final blade on his sword Kenta set the sharpening stone down to the side of him and took a final breath to try and steady himself, his nerves were really starting to get to him and he noticed that he was even shaking a little bit which he couldn't help but chuckle nervously at.

Midnight who was lying on the ground next to him looked up at his master sensing his unease and gave a small whine as he sat up and placed his head on Kenta's right thigh to try and give him some comfort.

Kenta looked to his partner with a small chuckle before reaching over and giving the Ninken a scratch behind the ear, "I'm fine buddy, just a little nervous is all. I'll be alright, thanks for worrying." he said back with a smile to reassure his canine partner that he was okay.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one." came a voice from the doorway that Kenta looked up to seeing Anko and Sayaka standing there, "You too hm?" Sayaka said as the pair walked in.

Kenta chuckled and nodded as he shook his head, "Yeah, it's getting to me more and more as it gets closer. I didn't think I would be this stressed out about this." He said as he looked down at his sword that was now on his lap.

Anko nodded as she put his hand on his shoulder, pausing a moment as she felt him shaking a little and looked at him softly, "It's okay Gaki it's a natural reaction, you're both just nervous about the whole thing." she said gently to try and calm him down, "It's the knowing that what you're going to do is what is getting to you. Taking a life in the moment is a lot less nerve-wracking than knowing that you're going to be doing it hours beforehand." she said giving him a shake, "You're both well trained and have the skills to be great Shinobi, but the true test of a Shinobi is if you are able to carry out missions like this one. You can be the best at everything else, but this is what makes and breaks most Shinobi. The final test is taking a life for the sake of completing a mission, if you are capable of that then you will truly be able to call yourself Shinobi."

Listening to Anko both Kenta and Sayaka took her word to heart as they thought over just what she mean, it was something they had both always known but it had never felt so real until now hours before they were actually going to have to make their first kills. But regardless of that they both knew it was inevitable, this was the path they had both chosen, and whether it was today or a hundred days in the future they would eventually have to kill, it was what Shinobi did, and they knew this. They were Shinobi and if they truly wanted to call themselves that, this was what they had to do.

Looking back to Anko both of them nodded solemnly a look of resolve in their eyes, and got a nod back of silent approval from the older Kunoichi seeing that look, she knew that she would have nothing to worry about with them making their first kill, it would only be the aftermath now that they had to deal with and they would deal with that when it came.

The trio sat in silence for the remainder of the hour each alone to their thoughts as Kenta and Sayaka steeled their resolves a final time, and Anko steeling herself to help them through what was probably going to be one of the most difficult times of their Shinobi career.

She still remembered her first kill and she was younger than both of them when it happened, she had never been so grateful that the academy age had been raised some time ago no one that young or younger should have to go through something like that. ' _At least with them being a little older than I was they should be able to process it better, and they'll have me there to help walk them through it after. Anything is better than what I had. I'd have been better off going it alone than with him.'_ she thought darkly to herself as the minutes ticked by.

But the hour passed and the door to the tent was darkened again as Kabure stood in it with a serious look on his face, "There still hasn't been any word from Konoha, so we're preceding ahead as planned." he stated, "Come on, we need to meet with Kokage and Zaji." he said as he turned to leave.

Both Sayaka and Anko nodded and got up to follow him out of the tent, Kenta took another breath as he stood up as well after they had left and lifted his sharpening stone as he put it back into his pocket before looking down at his sword, the light gleaming off the sharp edge as he caught his reflection in the flat of the steel. He had always known it was a weapon, that its purpose was to kill, but now he was looking at it in a whole new light. It was his weapon that he would use to take his first life this very day and in doing such he would truly become a Shinobi.

Midnight looked up to his master and gave him a small whine in concern seeing him look at the sword as he did. Kenta glanced at his partner and nodded to him before he looked back to the sword as his expression hardened. With a resolve to do what he had to he swung his sword around his waist as it clicked in place before he strode toward the door, he had a mission to complete.

* * *

 **Scene break**

An hour after leaving the camp, both Kenta and Sayaka found themselves taking light breathes as they crouched next to Anko as they hid in the cover of several large bushes between the trees just north or the slaver encampment. They had been there for nearly half an hour now their eyes focused the entire time on their targets as they completed yet another rotation of the walls.

The reason behind their watching them was for the purpose of the mission as they lacked a proper profile of each of them they needed to watch them so they could get their walk cycles down as well as small details in their appearance so that their Henge would be able to pass at a close glance when they entered in through the gates and lasted the few minutes they were inside the enemy camp.

Kenta watched his target closely, all the while he did there was a small mattering at the back of his mind, how the poor idiot didn't even know what was going to happen to him in the next couple of minutes. All he'd know would be a sharp pain and then nothing more as he passed from this world in the blink of an eye, one second he was here and the next he was gone a sad end to a sad existence

Shaking his thoughts from his mind he focused again on his target as he memorized every detail for the Henge and his movements, ' _Six foot tall, clumpy black hair down to his back, pale complexion, three scars on his lower left cheek, hazel eyes, ragged coat with muddy bottom and a tore left sleeve, dark pants and no shirt, wooden sandals with replaced toe string on the left foot. Walks with a three foot right stride and a two and a quarter left, possible injury to his left leg, carrying what looks like a wooden club with metal shards protruding from its top end with cloth wrapped around its lower, the body just looks to be a broken tree branch, skill with use: unknowable.'_ he rattled off for several seconds before repeating it in his head as he committed it all to heart.

While next to him Sayaka was doing the exact same with her target only she had a much easier time of it as the second man was a head shorter than his patrol partner and had a bald head, sporting a small white goatee and a leaner body only wearing a pair of navy blue shorts and nothing else, he was a lot more heavy built than the other man though with broad shoulders and a thick chest and arms, which she was guessing came from practicing with his weapon, that of a rusty iron cleaver that he had hoisted over his shoulder that looked to be half blunt from cutting into something it wasn't supposed to be cut into. Looking up to the top of the wooden wall she could see that each of the trees used in it had been cut away to points and she guessed that was what had done it and what had dulled his blade.

As the pair reached closer to the middle point of their patrol, an owl call was heard from above in the trees, it was Kokage and Zaji asking if Kenta and Sayaka had had enough time to get what information they needed. Anko looked to both her Genin and one by one both nodded their heads once in conformation and Anko nodded back before raising her hands to her mouth and sounding off her own owl call as an affirmative response before reaching for her own kunai and waiting.

The next second two glints of metal could be seen for just a split second before two kunai were launched silently from the treetops with speed towards their targets, and at the same time, Anko threw her own. The first two from the trees impacted hard into the back of the pairs necks for a near instant kill and at the same time two of Anko's Kunai lodged themselves in the pairs windpipes preventing any sound from being made from them in their final moments before their eyes rolled up to the tops of their heads as their bodies fell to the ground lifeless and unmoving.

With the targets down Anko rose up from the bushes silently as Kokage dropped from the treetops above as both ran to the bodies and quickly lifted them off the ground to move them out of sight before they were seen.

Seconds later both Kenta and Sayaka rose from the bushes and made their way towards where the targets had been taken out as, and after a small covering of smoke and a few seconds passed both had assumed the appearance of the recently assassinated men.

Not breaking their new walking stride both picked up the fallen weapons of their covers and assumed the patrol route as their placement was complete and they were ready for the next stage of the mission, the infiltration of the enemy camp.

It was only another minute, but it felt like an eternity for the two of them as they got nearer and nearer the gate, but doing their best to keep their cool and their Henges up they made to enter through the gate. Kenta stepped forward under Henge and with a shove pushed the gate open as they both walked through.

As they entered they came face to face with the two brutes that Kokage had mentioned earlier, and his statement really didn't do them justice. Both stood nearly six and a half feet tall, and were practically walls of muscle and meat, both were bald except for the topknots on the back of their heads, they could easily have passed for twins at a glance as they stood either side of the gate each wearing what looked to be bear hides around their waists and both carried a large iron mace with several prongs in their huge right hands. Kenta and Sayaka could both see why Kokage wanted them taken out in the opening of an assault; they were the biggest and most obvious threat to the mission and would be more difficult to take out in a one on one fight.

The two large walls of muscle nodded to Kenta and Sayaka as they came in through the gate and they nodded back in response keeping their mouths shut not wanting to test the impersonations of their voices if they could help it, they had only managed to catch small bits of conversation between the pair as they had patrolled so weren't totally confident on their voices but with any luck they wouldn't need them.

Beside the left wall of muscle was a bench where another two men sat, one skinny and lanky with a crossbow and some light armor with greying brown hair and a scar over his left eye, the other a tub of a man carrying a short sword with a crop cut of blond hair, both rose from their seats upon seeing Kenta and Sayaka enter and made towards the gate giving displeased grunts as they passed before they went out on the next patrol as they pulled the gate shut behind them.

The second they heard the gate close, both Sayaka and Kenta glanced at each other, they knew now that they only had a limited window before the attack would begin to get into position where they would have the other three scum bags within arms reach so that they could be taken out when the two walls of muscle at the front gate fell. They could practically feel their hearts racing with the adrenaline in their systems, though no one else could see the looks on their faces as their individual Jutsus covered them.

As they continued into the camp they both did a head count to find where each of the slavers where, two of the remaining three were by the fire pit, and the other was up leaning on the railing outside of the log cabin, with a flicker of the eyes Kenta gestured to Sayaka to take the one at the house and he would take the two by the fire pit. Sayaka gave a barely noticeable nod of the head as she followed his cue as they split off and headed towards the two locations casually not drawing attention to themselves as they moved to their positions.

As Kenta turned and walked towards the fire pit, he could see the cages at the other side of the camp and his eyes widened as he felt himself tense up at the sight. Several large cages all in a row along the back wall of the encampment, each filled with young girls and those just reaching adulthood, all in filthy clothes and rags, huddled together with the look of utter fear on their faces for their situation and their very lives. Kenta could make out the blood stains on several of the older and some of the youngers dresses and behind his Henge gritted his teeth as the reality of what these bastards had done to some of these girls sunk even further into him. He had read about the cruelties that some of them would suffer but seeing it in the flesh was something far different. He could feel his anger inside him his rage towards the bastards who did this but he pushed it down, he couldn't let his anger get the better of him now, the mission came first.

As he neared the fire pit Kenta reached out with his sensory skills and felt the chakra signatures of the two men on patrol fade away as their lives were cut short, only for the familiar signatures of Anko and Kabure took their places as they continued on the pass around the perimeter. His features hardened, the mission objectives were halfway complete, only the five inside were left, they have them outnumbered and they didn't even know it yet.

As Kenta reached the pit he moved to sit at the end of one of the logs that the others were using as a seat setting the scrap club down to his left as he did so, before glancing up at the log cabin as he saw Sayaka greet her target before he looked down and took another breath, his heart was pounding in his ears, he knew he needed to calm down otherwise he might be noticed.

Taking a glance over to the other two slavers at the pit with him he could see that they were busy talking and weren't paying any attention to him which he was thankful for, they looked like brothers, both with similar features and the same style of brown hair and green eyes, they had similar highs and builds wearing white shirts and some light armor. With a glance to their weapons he could make out that of a hatchet on the belt of one and a pair of steel daggers in the belt of the other. He knew he would have to move fast when the attack begin before either could pull their weapons when they realized that they were under attack.

Kenta could feel both Anko and Kabure getting closer to the gate, and a flicker of his gaze had both the walls of muscles still standing guard on either side of it, his gaze moved up to Sayaka and saw her playing her part well as she leaned on the railing next to her target as she passed what looked like a cigarette between them to keep up her facade a little longer, he could just about make out the shape of a second crossbow slung to the man's back from this distance, as well as a knife in the man's belt but he couldn't make out the man's features other than his black hair.

Looking down again Kenta could feel the chakra signatures only feet from the gate this was it. Taking a final breath to steady himself he moved so that his left hand was on the club and his right was at his waist as he reached to grab the handle of his sword as he moved like he was just casually getting up, he would take them out at the same time, quick and clean the second they were caught off guard by the two at the gate falling.

The chakra signatures had reached the gate and he could hear it starting to open, with a glance he could see the two guards look in curiosity as to why the gate was opening again so soon as both the Hanged forms of Anko and Kabure came inside. Before all hell broke loose, the one with the crossbow raised his hand and with a simple pull of his trigger the crossbow bolt fired and stuck fast right into the jugular of the first brute. As the tub of lard move with speed and rammed the now sharpened sword he had right into others gut bringing him to his knees before a kunai came out of his sleeve and with speed ran straight across his throat spraying blood high into the air as he fell back as his double did the same as he gargled with the bolt lodged in his trachea.

The sudden actions had drawn the attention from those left inside. The two by the fire pit quickly rose from their seat and made to pull their weapons, but Kenta was faster. Rising up from his seat Kenta hefted the heavy club up as he rose and with all the force he could muster behind it smashed it into the side of the hatchet-wielding brother's head as he was still getting up. The impact of the club combined with his unsteady stance knocked the man to the side with a painful cry as he crashed to the ground dazed as blood sprayed from his face where the metal shards had dug into his face.

Hearing his brothers cry the second man turned and looked at the scene in shock before looking to Kenta his eyes wide, "Kaito what are you…" he began to yell only for his words to falter as Kenta's Henge to fade and go up in a plume of smoke as he reached through his Henge grabbing at his sword and pulling if free from his waist.

In an instant the blade came loose and the joints came together as he swung it in an arch at the man as he closed in on him, the metal gleamed as it cut through the air it's edge razor sharp as it met the flesh of the man's neck and the next moment passed straight through.

For a second Kenta stood there his sword in the apex of its arch as it was raised in the air it's edge shimmering with the crimson liquid as the man stood in shock in front of him before blood gushed from the line in his neck that burst open his hands immediately went to it to try and stop the bleeding and were instantly painted red with the spray as he fell to the ground still clutching at it as he tried to gasp for life.

But before Kenta could spend another second on the sight before him his attention was taken by a gargled cry of "Bastard!" as he looked to his left as he saw the man he had knocked to the side rise up as he pulled his hatchet, his face had shredded by the metal on the club that Kenta had used to strike him moments before.

Hearing the cry Kenta reacted on instinct and swung the weapon he had most closest to the sound, putting his strength behind it he hefted the shrapnel club up once more as the man started to rise before he brought it down on the top of his head with a sickening wet thump.

The man's war cry had fallen silent as he instantly dropped the knee that he had been rising as his body started to shake. Kenta's eyes widened as he let go of the club but it remained in place and it was then that he realized what had happened. One of the larger shards of metal on the club had pierced the man's head as was keeping the club in place, but the man still wasn't dead.

Kenta felt bile rise up in his throat at the sight but knew that the job wasn't done, and so stepping forward as he brought his sword around again he swung, ' _For the mission.'_ he thought as he let the sword fall.

The blade of the sword made a clean arch, the razor-sharp blade having dulled none in the last few seconds and with the full momentum of Kenta's swing behind it made a clean and true cut, as the next second the man stopped shaking before blood sprayed from his neck and onto the ground before the man fell sideways hitting the ground with a thud, as his head made another as it fell separately from the rest of his body.

The seconds ticked on in the aftermath as Kenta's heart pounded in his ears and he found himself breathing heavy in the following moments that seemed to tick by slower than anything he'd ever experienced in his whole life.

His gaze was fixed on the sight before him on the body of the man whose head he had just bludgeoned before cutting off. The sight of the blood pooling around his severed neck and the sight of the man's mangled face, as it still remained attached to the club made his guts wrench. Sure he had seen mutilation and torture before, at least a dozen times by now thanks to his training sessions over the past three weeks, and it was only thanks to them that he immediately didn't start to throw up rings around himself.

Turning his head away from the sight his blue eyes met another pair of eyes wide with fear, the man with his throat slit lay on the ground with his hands still clutching his neck, the blood had long stopped flowing and he now lay in a pool of his own blood silent and still, but the look in his eyes made Kenta freeze, it was a look of pure fear and utter terror that was etched into the man's face in his final moments when Kenta had taken his life, because of something he had done.

Kenta looked down at his sword and saw the blood still on his blade; he swallowed hard as the reality of it all hit him. He had actually done it, not just once but twice, in the blink of an eye he'd ended two lives with this very sword, he felt himself begin to shake and he felt like he'd just been punched right in the gut as he felt the bile start to rise again in his throat turning his head away from the sight he felt absolutely sick of what he had just done, but he couldn't get the images out of his head as he closed his eyes to stop from seeing them they were right there. Those eyes filled with fear and terror because of him, it was all because of him.

Opening his eyes to see something anything else, his eyes instantly fell on the cages, and all the girls inside them, their faces, their clothes, their fear and the look in their eyes, and instantly he was reminded of what he had just done, what he had actually done, remove two monsters from this world that didn't have the right to live in it and breath the same air as decent people.

They had caused so much pain, taken so many lives, and ruined so many others. The brief pain and fear that he had inflicted upon them in their last moments before he took their lives was nothing when compared to the sea of blood that was on both of their hands, he wasn't a murderer they were. He was a Shinobi doing his duty, and they were scum that needed to be put down before they could ruin more lives. He was just the one to do it.

Breath by breath slowly his breathing returned to normal as he stopped shaking and started to calm down. He felt a hand grip his shoulder and he turned his head to meet the light brown pupil less eyes of Anko, her worry and concern for him written practically all over her face.

Slowly a small smile came to Kenta's lips as he gave her a small nod of his head to let her know he was okay. She smiled back softly as the worry and concern lightened off on her features as she nodded back.

Midnight, who had come in after it was all over gave a whine as he nudged Kenta's hand with his snout and pawed at his pants leg clearly worried about his master. Kenta smiled as he rubbed his partners head and behind his ear, "I'm alright buddy, just a little shaky is all." he said softly with a sigh before swallowing as he looked over to the log cabin where Sayaka had been before he started walking in that direction, Anko and Midnight followed behind him.

The sight that greeted them was more gruesome than they had expected, the thin railing at the front of the cabin had been broken, and the slaver lay face up like he had gone through it backwards with more weight than he looked to have. His shirt was drenched in blood, and the large rusted cleaver was embedded right into his collarbone. It had obviously caught one of the major arteries upon cutting into him to cause so much bleeding.

But the sight that caught them the most was that of Sayaka, several feet away from the body, her hand and the front of her dress covered in blood, her body shaking as she just stared at the blood on her hands, her eyes open wide as she shook with each ragged breath she took.

Moving slowly both Kenta and Anko moved closer to her, "Sayaka-Chan." Kenta said softly as they neared her his own eyes wide with worry for her knowing what the exact thoughts were that were likely going through her head.

But Sayaka didn't seem to notice as she just continued staring at her blood-caked hands and now they could both see the tears streaming down her face as she did, but what had them both taken aback was the sight of her two now blood red irises with a single tomoe in each eye. Both realized at that moment that it was the stress of her first kill that had awakened her clan Dōjutsu, the Sharingan.

"Sayaka." Kenta said again softly as they got closer to her moving to gently grasp her shoulder as he did so.

This time Sayaka's head snapped up to the sound of his voice her eyes wide and full of fear. She quickly pulled back and away before he could touch her, "S-Stay back, D-Don't come an-any closer!" she cried as she did so, "I-I'm a monster!" she said in broken up sobs as she looked down at her hands again, at the now hardening blood that was encrusting her hands.

"I…. I ki….I killed h-him, with these hands, oh kami what have I done." Sayaka said in a frightened voice her eyes fixated on her hands.

Kenta's heart wrenched in his chest to hear his neared and closest friend sound like she did, the once confident and beautiful girl, was now overcome with the grief and realization of her actions having taken her first life in such a way.

Kenta looked back at the man she had killed and felt anger rise up in his chest towards the dead man, even after they were dead, these bastards were still causing people pain and misery… _'No, it stops here.'_

Gritting his teeth and swallowing hard Kenta turned again to Sayaka and strode forward as he reached down and gripped her shoulders before she had a chance to pull away from him again, "Sayaka look at me, you are not a monster do you hear me!" he said to her with a firm voice one that said that he had the utmost belief in what he was saying.

Slowly breaking her gaze on her hands Sayaka looked up to him as she shook with another breath before his words fully had contact with her and her tears renewed themselves as they flowed freely, "How can you say that!?" she said as she brought her hands up and pushed his hands off her before she pointed to the corpse, "Look at what I did, I killed him!" she screamed out in a sob.

Stepping to the side Kenta turned and pointed to the fire pit, "And look at what I did, look at the bodies of those that I killed." he told her as he pointed at them, "I killed them Sayaka, does that make me a monster as well." he asked her with the same firm tone as before, "No it doesn't because they were the true monsters." he stated before pointing to the cages and the women and young girls that Kokage, Kabure and Zaji were busy freeing, "Look at them Sayaka, look at their faces. What those monsters did to them can never be undone, but we put a stop to them doing it to anyone else. Look at them Sayaka!"

And she did, looking through tearful eyes she could see the looks of shock on the captives faces as their cages were opened, and the tearful smiled as they were freed from their captivity, as sisters embrace each other, mothers were reunited with their daughters and the relief and happiness that flooded their faces as they realized that the nightmare that they had suffered for so long was actually over.

"I…. I did that…" Sayaka said softly as her breathing began to lighten off from the ragged breaths she had been taking in her emotional state, still shaking she looked back down at her hands, "But…. I" she said slowly the tears still flowing from her eyes.

Seeing her student needed help, Anko moved and knelt to her left side as she took the canteen from her left hip from under her coat and gently took her hands and began to pour the water from the canteen onto them washing the blood off them as she used her hands to gently rub the more dry patches away, "Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay, look see." she said as the blood washed away, "There, like it never happened. You were just doing what you had to, it was all part of the mission." she said softly.

As Anko was washing the blood away Kenta knelt down on Sayaka's right and watched as the blood was washed away and nodded, "She's right it was all part of the…" he began to say before he was cut off as Sayaka threw herself onto him wrapping arms around him and hugged him tightly as she began to sob into his shoulder.

Kenta on instinct wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried, bowing his head as he held her as he closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about the memories that this brought up; about the last time he held her like this how much of a nightmare that time was for her. But he would help her now to get past this just like he had the first time and she would be stronger for it, they both would be.

Over the next five minutes slowly but surely Sayaka's sobs died away as she just shook in Kenta's arms his presence and warmth giving her something to hold onto reality as the memories of what she had done not minutes before flooded her vision. It was only his embrace that kept her from breaking out into fresh sobs. But eventually, as she knew she had to, she slowly pulled herself out of her embrace finding herself totally exhausted and weaker than she ever felt in her entire life as she sat back and wiped her eyes as she looked down at her lap swallowing hard.

"W-When the gates o-opened and the attack began," Sayaka began to speak, but stopped when Kenta put his hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Kenta said concerned for her as he looked at her with worry.

Sayaka gave him a small smile and shook her head, "No, it's alright. I need to get this off my chest and out of my head." she said before swallowing hard again, as Midnight came over and lay his head on her lap.

She smiled weakly as she reached down and gently ran her hand through his soft fur as she took a breath and started over, "When they opened, he stepped forward in shock, I could see him going for his crossbow to draw it and load a bolt." she said in a weak voice, clearly struggling with it, "B-But when he turned to grab the bold that was when I swung." she swallowed again, "I was trying to make it clean, b-but I guess my nerves got the better of me and I swung too soon and caught his collarbone. The blade stuck when I tried to pull it free and when he fell backwards...h-he pulled me with him." she said as she began to shake a little more at the memories as she closed her eyes, "There… there was so much blood, I…I could see him struggling to breathe and his movements getting weaker as he… as the light went out of his eyes."

Anko grimaces hearing the details, it was probably the most unfortunate way it could have gone down. She'd seen the two that Kenta had killed and even seen the final stroke of his blade, she was expecting this to be rough on them but this was something else. Her first kill had been quick and clean a kunai to a bandit's heart, the poor bastard was dead the next second and didn't even know what had hit him. She'd felt like hell for weeks after, but both their first kills were brutal and bloody. There was no comparison; she knew that this was going to stick with them both for a while. She'd have to keep a close eye on both of them to make sure that they both got through this alright; it was always the aftermath in the weeks following that made or break a Shinobi.

Reaching over Anko placed her hand's on both their shoulders giving them a gentle as she tried to reassure them both, "Hey, you both did your jobs great, okay. There's no more need to be said about it. The mission is complete, and it went off without a hitch, I think we can call this mission a success don't you." she said giving a slightly cocky smile trying to take their minds of what they had just done.

Both Kenta and Sayaka looked to her and nodded back in response, it was clear that they were both still coming to terms with what they had done, but they had done it and completed their mission as Anko had said. Now all they could do was try to put what they had done behind them and be ready for when they had to do the same again because there was no doubt in either of their minds that they would have to. They were Shinobi and Kunoichi now, and they had earned the right to call themselves so.

* * *

 **Scene break**

It was three hours later back at the rendezvous site, that had grown considerably with a number of new tents in order to temporally accommodate the released captives before they could be escorted to Konoha to start a new life after their past ones had been taken from them.

Kenta and Sayaka were in their designated tent on orders to rest after their mission while the older Shinobi were helping to organize the captives taking down names, ages and places of origin for their new records once they reached Konoha.

In an effort to take their minds off earlier they had taken to experimenting with Sayaka's new eyes. The young Uchiha was smiling brightly as she looked at them using a hand mirror seeing the single tomoe in her red eyes she was finding it hard to believe that she had actually done it.

"I can't believe I've finally got my Sharingan. Kaa-chan is going to be so excited when we get back to Konoha, she'll probably throw a party to celebrate." Sayaka giggled as her single tomoe spun in each of her eyes.

Kenta laughed, "Yeah that will definitely be fun. But what I'm looking forward to is seeing Sasuke's face when he realizes that you got your Sharingan before he did." he laughed out loud as he imagined it.

Sayaka giggled as she let her Sharingan fade, "Oh he's going to be so mad." she said as she burst into a giggling fit.

"Well, it's certainly good to see you two are laughing and back to normal." Anko said as she came in with Midnight by her side, "How are you two doing?" she asked before looking to Sayaka.

Sayaka smiled and nodded, "A little better Sensei." she said before looking to Kenta, "Kenta-Kun is just helping me to take my mind off things and he's helping me through it."

Anko smirked, "Yeah he has a knack for doing things like that." she said before looking at the redhead, "What about you gaki, you back to normal yet?"

Kenta smirked as he ruffled his partner's fur as Midnight came over to him, "Yeah I'm doing just fine Anko. It's nothing that a good nights sleep can't clear up, I'll be fine."

Anko frowned hearing that and was about to comment that it would likely be a while before he got one. She remembered her nightmares that had carried on for a while after her own first kill, but before she could the voice of Kokage called over, "Hey Anko!"

Anko turned to see Kokage standing outside the main tent with another messenger hawk on his shoulder and a scroll in his hand, Kenta and Sayaka both got up from the bunks in the tent and followed Anko out to see what was going on

"That a message from the village?" Anko asked as they came over to him as she eyed the scroll in his hand.

Kokage nodded, "Yep, B-three sent word to the village a little over an hour or so ago. Their little break away paid off." He stated as he tossed her the scroll to read, "They tracked the group to the camp that we haven't been able to locate. Buggers had it hidden in a cave that's why we couldn't find it out in the open like the other ones. But there are just as many hostiles there as there were here, they're going to need a hand to take it."

Anko unrolled the scroll and looked it over, "Only one way in, it won't be a stealth attack like this one was then, no need for a patrol when they just need guards at the front door." she stated as she frowned.

Kokage nodded, "They've requested that one of our teams go to back them up, there's already a replacement team on the way from Konoha, but they won't arrive for another seven hours, and I don't feel comfortable transporting these many civilians with so few guards. But if we wait then chances are they could get wind of the other attacks and decided to cut their losses and kill the other captives before we can get another team out there for the attack."

Anko looked to him still with a frown, "And you're looking for us to go and back them up?" she stated more than asked.

Kokage nodded, "Yes, I'd send my own team, but we'd be the best to guard the civilians here until the other team arrives and we can start moving them to Konoha."

Anko frowned she didn't like it, especially after everything that both her two had just been through. She didn't want to put them through another attack after the last bloodbath that they had just gotten out of and she was about to voice so when Sayaka spoke up.

"Anko-sensei let's do it, we can't just let them die. The longer we wait, the more likely they'll just kill the captives." Sayaka stated, "What's the point in all of this if we let half of those we could save just die anyway?"

Kenta nodded in agreement, "I agree. We're not hurt so we have no excuse not to go. We said we'd see this through and I'm not about to quit when there's still more work to be done." he said with conviction, "We're Shinobi, it's what we do." he added as Midnight gave an agreed bark of approval.

Anko looked to both of them at the statements with a worrying glance, "You both sure you're up to it? It's not going to be like the last time when you had a chance to kill them silently, this will be a full frontal assault." she warned them.

Both Kenta and Sayaka just nodded their heads firmly both set on seeing this through the whole way and Anko sighed, "I guess we're going then." she said before she rolled up the scroll.

It was then that the doorway into the tent opened and one of the older captives came out, she was a young woman slightly younger than Anko with dark blond hair and blue eyes, now with a blanket wrapped around her.

"Um excuse me." The woman asked, "I… I just wanted to thank you before you left. You were the two who saved us, who killed those three inside the camp where we were held." she said swallowing slightly as she spoke, "My name's Niko, I was at that camp the longest out of all those there, you… you have no idea what you have done for us by doing what you did, I know it must be difficult taking a life but…" she said as she bowed to them, "We can never thank you enough for what you have done for us all, thank you!" she said loudly.

It was then that they looked around and all the other girls and young women that were out of their tents were doing the exact same all bowing in their direction.

Sayaka and Kenta both were shocked at the thanks, they had never expected such a display from them and were a little taken back by it as Niko stood up and looked at them her eyes filled with such gratitude that it was practically overflowing from her.

"Please, can we know your names so that we can remember them and say who the brave Shinobi and Kunoichi was that saved us all." Niko asked practically pleading.

This brought them both out of their shocked states and both looked to each other before looking back to Niko, Kenta swallowed slightly, "Um sure I guess, I'm Kenta Uzumaki." he said as he gave his name clearly uncomfortable about the whole attention thing, given that as a Shinobi he had expected to be in the shadows and not really give his name out to people who he helped.

"And I'm Sayaka Uchiha." Sayaka said as equally as awkwardly having expected the same as Kenta, finding the whole thing awkward, if a little flattering, they hadn't done that much had they.

"Thank you." Niko said bowing again, "We will never forget what you have done for us all." making both Genin squirm a little awkwardly not used to being in the spotlight like this with everyone bar the other Shinobi bowing to them.

Anko smirked seeing her two Genin squirming like the awkward teens they were. It was clear that they hadn't expected to be thanked, not after what they had went through but she knew it could only help them. But decided that she should probably save them from their embarrassment as she turned and started to walk in the direction the scroll had indicated, "Alright that's enough of that. Come on you two before your heads swell any bigger. We've got another mission to get to." she called back.

Hearing her both Kenta and Sayaka gladly took the chance and turned to follow her as they left the camp both feeling awkward but a little bit better right now after the thanks that they had never expected to receive. But one thing was certain at that moment, the events from a few hours ago were now far from their minds, as they now had to focus and prepare themselves for another mission where anything could happen.


End file.
